PERRINS  LIBRARY 

Duke  University 


Rare  Book: 


The  Gift  of  _ W.  ft. 

G^-  s,/9s/ 


Date_ 


evangelical  Hutljeran 

CHURCH. 


By  GEORGE  LOCH  MAN,  A 

PASTOR  OF  THE  LUTHERAN  CONGREGATE  v 


HARRISBURGH . 


HARRIS B URGE : 

PRINTED  AND  SOLD  BY  JOHN  WYETH 


18  18. 


Dl'SfRICf  OF  rRNNSrLVAltlA,  to  IV It  ■; 


BE  it  remembered,  That  on  the  twenty- 
third  day  of  November,  iiLthe  forty-second 
year  of  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  A.  D.  1817,  George 


Lochman,  A.M.  of  the  said  district,  hath  deposited  in 
this  office,  the  title  of  a book,  the  right  whereof  he 
claims  as  proprietor,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit  : 
“ The  History,  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Cfhrch,  by  George  Loch  mar, 
A.  J\L  Pastor  of  the  Lutheran  Congregation  at  Har- 
risburgh 

In  conformity  to  the  act  of  the  congress  of  the  U- 
nited  States,  intituled,  “ An  act  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  learning  by  securing  the  copies  of  maps, 
"'harts  and  books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of 
sijeh  copies  during  the  times  therein  mentioned.” 
And  also  to  the  act  entitled,  “ An  act  supplementary 
act,  entitled,  li  An;}  ^actfortlie  encouragement 


R&R 
, ? / * H 

i 


PREFACE, 

THE  history,  doctrines  and  discipline  of 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  are  very- 
little  known  among  the  English  portion  of 
the  United  States  ; because  the  writers  on 
those  subjects  have  generally  written  in  Lat- 
in or  German,  and  because  their  doctrines 
have  hitherto  been  mostly  taught  and  preach* 
ed  in  the  German  language.  It  was  thise 
consideration,  that  induced  the  author 
write  these  pages  in  the  English  langua^c 
He  is  no  bigot-— no  enemy  to  any  christ- 
denomination  whatever  ; believing  that  thelt 
Lord  hath  his  people  among  them  a!], 
that  all  true  Christians,  taken  together  from 
the  different  branches  or  denominations  of  the 
several  churches,  constitute  “ the  one  holy 
catholic  Christian  church.”  But  sincerely 
believing  the  tenets  held  and  taught  by  Lu- 
ther and  his  followers  to  agree  with  the  scrip, 
tures,  and  knowing  that  those  tenets  have 
been  misrepresented  by  some,  either  igno- 
rantly or  intentionally— he  humbly  conceives^ 


IV 


that  a simple  history  of  the  church  and  an 
exposition  of  its  doctrines  and  discipline,  will 
be  of  great  advantage. 

The  authors,  from  which  he  has  taken  his 
information,  are,  Luther,  Melanchton,  Seck- 
endorf,  Robertson’s  Charles  V.  Rees’s  Cy- 
clopedia, Villers  on  the  spirit  and  influence 
of  the  Reformation  ; Mosheim,  Priestly,  Mil- 
ner and  Kunze’s  church  histories  ; and 
Michaelis,  Hecker,  Osterwald,  Less  and 

■T”  M _ >r«)  i ^ . e.  _ 

^cnw  a a neoivg^eiy,  cie* 

He  has  endeavored  to  be  as  plain  and  pop- 
ular in  his  style  as  possible,  believing  that 
his  work  would  be  the  more  useful  to  the 
unlc.aTlsd-  and  adhering  to  Luther’s  max- 
im : “ Preach  and  write  so  that  the  common 
and  unlearned  may  understand  you,  and  you 
*re  sure  to  be  understood  by  the  learned. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  Christian  religion  was  founded  by 
Jesus  Christ,  the  son  of  God  and  Saviour  of 
the  world.  Of  him  all  the  prophets  of  the 
old  dispensation  had  testified.  Some  of 
them  had  even  gone  so  far,  as  to  determine  the 
time  and  place  and  circumstances  of  his 
birth.  When  the  fulness  of  the  time  was 
come,  he  made  his  appearance  in  the  world. 
Of  his  earlier  days,  we  know  little  more 
than,  that  he  was  desirous  of  promoting  the 
glory  of  his  heavenly  father,  and  was  obc 
dient  to  his  parents.  But  when  he  began 
his  ministry,  and  was  baptized,  we  find  that 
his  Almighty  father  proclaimed  him  his  son 
publicly,  and  in  the  presence  of  a great  mul- 
titude of  people,  in  these  words,  “ This  is 
my  beloved  son,  him  shall  you  hear.”  And 
he  himself  proved  the  truth  of  his  divine 
mission  by  the  numerous  miracles,  which  he 
performed — he  healed  the  blind,  the  dumb, 
'die  lame,  the  dropsical,  the  leprous,  the  lu» 
A.  2- 


6 


natics,  the  paralytica],  the  deaf,  yea,  he  even 
raised  up  the  dead  to  life,  by  his  touch  or 
by  a single  word — he  walked  upon  the  wa- 
ters, and  empowered  others  to  walk  upon 
them — the  waves  and  the  storms  were  made 
quiet  by  his  commands,  8tc.  And  these  mi- 
racles were  performed,  not  in  remote  or  pri- 
vate places,  but  in  the  presence  of  multi- 
tudes ; some  of  them  were  even  officially 
examined  by  the  chief  council  of  the  nation.* 
Even  among  his  enemies,  no  attempt  was 
made  to  deny  his  miracles  ; they  confessed 
he  did  these  great  things,  but  attributed  them 
io  the  power  of  the  devil  and  to  sorcery.  He 
also  foretold  remarkable  future  events,  which 
no  human  power  could  foresee.  At  his  cru- 
cifixion, all  nature  bore  witness  to  his  divin- 
ity ; for  the  earth  did  quake,  the  rocks  did 
split,  the  vail  of  the  temple  was  rent  in  twain, 
and  darkness  covered  the  land  for  three 
whole  hours.  On  the  third  day  after  his 
-crucifixion,  he  arose  from  the  grave,  and 
forty  days  afterwards  triumphantly  ascended 
fo  heaven. 


* J^hn  chap,  ix 


7 


At  the  beginning  of  his  ministry,  he  chose 
twelve  apostles,  whom  he  instructed  for  three 
years,  and  who  were  eye  witnesses  of  all  his 
actions.  On  the  day  of  Pentecost  (ten  days 
after  his  ascension)  he  poured  out  his  prom- 
ised spirit  upon  them  in  a miraculous  man- 
ner, by  which  they  obtained  power  not  only 
to  perform  miracles,  but  also  to  speak  lan- 
guages, which  they  had  not  learned.  En- 
dued with  these  gifts  and  clothed  with  these 
testimonials,  they  went  out  in  every  direction 
to  preach  the  gospel  and  to  establish  church- 
es. Wherever  this  was  done,  idolatry,  su- 
perstition and  barbarism  vanished,  and  the 
knowledge  and  adoration  of  the  true  God# 
Jehovah,  prevailed. 

To  obtain  a correct  idea  of  the  beneficial 
effects  of  the  Christian  religion  in  the  world, 
it  is  necessary  to  know  the  religious  state  of 
mankind  in  those  days.  It  might  truly  be 
said  of  that  period,  darkness  covered  the 
earth  and  gross  darkness  the  people.”  The 
Jews  were  entirely  engaged  with  the  tradi- 
tions of  men  , they  had  forsaken  the  worship 
m God  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  and  had 


become  a depraved  and  immoral  people ; and 
the  heathens  were  sunk  into  idolatry  and  bar- 
barism  ; even  Rome,  Sparta  and  Athens, 
where  learning  and  philosophy  had  been 
flourishing,  were  not  excepted.  They  were 
worshipping  Jupiter,  Juno,  Mars,  Apollo, 
&c.  supposed  deities,  who,  according  to  their 
own  ideas,  had  themselves  been  living  and 
were  yet  living  in  heaven  among  each  other 
in  the  grossest  vices.  They  had  temples  e- 
rected  to  Bacchus,  the  God  of  wiril,  and  to 
Venus  the  Goddess  of  debauchery,  whither 
they  resorted  to  worship  by  feasting  and 
drinking,  by  fornication  and  adultery.* 
Some  few  of  the  most  learned  and  wise 
men  among  them  had  indeed,  by  dil- 
igent study,  obtained  clearer  ideas  of  the 
deity,  and  of  religion  in  general  ; but  they 
despaired  of  ever  spreading  their  principles 
among  the  people.  “ You  may  resign”  saith 
S >c  rates  to  Plato,  “all  hopes  of  reforming 
the  m.umersmf  men,  unless  it  please  God  to 

* The  apostle,  in  the  1st  chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the 
Romans,  has  drawn  a dark  and  melancholy  picture 
of  the  moral  state  of  the  heathen  world,  and  he  ap- 
peals for  its  verification  to  their  own  observation  and 
experience.  And  Juvenal  and  Seneca  have  given.  US 
lire,  same  picture  is  colors  hardly  less  dark.. 


9 


send  some  person  to  instruct  you  and 
Plato  in  his  treatise  concerning  a republic 
says,  “ whatever  is  set  right,  in  the  present 
bad  state  of  the  world,  can  be  done  only  by 
the  interposition  of  God.”  These  maxims 
of  these  great  philosophers  imply,  that,  tho* 
the  people  may  be  capable  of  receiving  the 
wise  and  excellent  principles  of  theology'or 
of  morals  from  authority,  which  is  proved 
to  be  divine  ; yet  if  they  were  to  be  wrought 
out  by  the  efforts  of  their  own  understand’ 

;r.g,  Of  by  the  aid  of  human  teachers  merely, 
the  moral  state  of  the  world  must  be  irre- 
mediable.— See  Smith’s  Lectures. 

Such  then  was  the  state  of  the  world  when 
the  apostles  preached  the  gospel  ; and  as;- 
tonishing  were  the  effects,  which  their  la- 
bors produced.  In  a short  time,  numbers 
of  Christian  congregations  were  established 
and  true  religion  and  morality  flourished. 

The  great  men  among  the  Jews,  as  well  as 
among  the  heathens,  were  no  quiet  observ- 
ers of  this  rapid  extension  of  Christian  prin- 
ciples ; they  soon  began  to  persecute  the  / 

v.V;  ■ ' / 

■ f.  / 

/ 

/ 

/ ■ 


10 


Christians,  and  enacted  laws  for  their  sup- 
pression and  extirpation.  Thousands  of 
them,  of  every  sex  and  age,  were  cruelly  ex- 
ecuted  ; some  of  them  stoned,  burned,  saw- 
ed asunder,  crucified,  and  others  thrown  t© 
wild  beasts  to  be  devoured*  But  notwith- 
standing all  their  opposition,  and  all  their  ex- 
terminating laws  and  persecutions,  the  truth 
of  the  gospel  prevailed  ; for  in  the  year  324, 
the  emperor  Constantine,  the  great,  declared 
Christianity  to  be  the  established  Religion  in 
the  Roman  empire,  and  many  heathen  tem- 
ples were,  by  his  order,  converted  into  chrism 
tian  churches. 

In  these  first  centuries  the  Christian  doc- 
trine remained  pure  and  unadulterated  ; but 
by  degrees  innovations  and  false  doctrines  a- 
rose.  “ While  men  slept,  the  enemy  came 
and  sowed  tares  among  the  wheat.”  Some 
©f  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  who  had  been 
created  inspectors  or  bishops  of  particular 
districts,  began  to  claim  great  powers,  and  to 
introduce  new  ceremonies.  This  was  par- 
ticularly the  case  with  the  bishops  of  Rome, 
®f  Constantinople^  of  Alexandria,  of  Antio 


dfeia  and  of  Jerusalem,  who  assumed  to  them- 
selves the  title  of  Patriarchs  and  began  to 
regulate  the  affairs  of  the  churches  under 
their  particular  care.  About  the  year  606, 
the  Roman  patriarch,  Boniface  the  3d,  ob- 
tained the  title  of  Papa,  Pope,  or  head  of  the 
whole  Christian  church,  from  the  infamous 
and  impious  Phocas,  who  had  usurped  the 
empire  of  the  east.  This  Phocas  had  been 
a centurion  in  the  army,  and  during  a re- 
volt, had  ascended  the  imperial  throne  and 
caused  the  lawful  emperor  Maurice,  with  his 
wife,  and  sons,  and  daughters  to  be  cruelly 
put  do  death.  The  patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, Cyriacus,  enraged  at  Phocas’  conduct, 
excommunicated  him  *,  however  Boniface 
the  3d,  being  sent  for,  granted  him  absolu- 
tion and  crowned  him  emperor,  and  as  a re- 
compence  for  this  favor,  Phocas  proclaimed 
him  head  of  the  Christian  church. 

From  this  time  protestant  writers  general- 
ly date  the  beginning  of  popery.  For  from 
that  period,  innovations,  false  doctrines  and 
abominations  arose,  which  very  much  sup- 
pressed the  true  religion  of  Christ,  Among 


18 


these  we  reckon  image-worship,  adoration 
of  saints,  purgatory,  indulgences,  transub- 
stantiation  and  the  mass.  Besides  this,  the 
Latin  language  was  introduced  into  divine 
service  ; the  word  of  God  as  well  as  the  cup 
in  the  Lord’s  supper  was  taken  from  the  lai- 
ty ; the  priest  forced  into  celibacy,  and  a 
system  of  oppression  and  violence  ensued, 
which  soon  surpassed  the  horrors  of  all  the  for- 
mer persecutions  of  the  heathenish  emperors. 

Against  these,  and  other  ruinous  errors 
and  abuses,  the  Lord, ' from  time  to  time, 
stirred  up  many  witnesses.  Such  were  the 
Waldenses  in  France  and  Piedmont,  in  1176 
• — the  Wickliflites  in  England,  in  1378 — - 
and  the  Hussites  in  Bohemia,  in  1438. — 
These  men  were  indeed  a light  to  the  world  ; 
but  their  light  did  not  dispel  the  gloom. 
Though  it  shone  far  into  the  vale  of  night,  it 
reached  not  to  the  throne  of  darkness  in 
Rome. 

Myeonius,  a German  author,  who  lived 
at  the  beginning  of  the  16th  century,  gives 
its  the  following  account  of  the  state  of  re  - 


18 


liglon  of  those  times  : “ The  sufferings  and 
satisfaction  of  Christ  were  only  considered 
as  an  old  history,  much  like  the  Odyssey  of 
Homer  ; concerning  faith,  which  embraces 
the  righteousness  of  a Saviour  and  life  eter- 
nal, nothing  was  said  ; Christ  was  represent- 
ed as  an  inflexible  judge,  who  was  prepared 
to  condemn  all  such  as  had  not  the  interces- 
sion of  a saint  and  the  favour  of  the  pope  to 
show  ; in  the  place  of  Christ  were  placed  as 
saviours  and  intercessors,  the  virgin  Mary* 
(like  an  heathen  Diana)  and  other  saints, 
which  the  popes  had  introduced  from  time  to 
time.  And  even  these  intercessions  could 
not  be  expected,  unless  they  were  merited 
by  particular  works — these  works,  however, 
were  not  such  as  are  prescribed  by  the  ten 
commandments,  or  other  precepts  of  the 
scriptures  ; they  consisted  in  saying  the 
Lord’s  prayer,  the  ave  raarias  and  their  rosa- 
ries, at  certain  times,  during  the  day  ; in  giv- 
ing alms  and  money  to  the  convents  ; in  pil- 
grimages ; in  purchasing  indulgences  ; in 
short,  in  the  observance  of  a number  of  in- 
significant  ceremonies.  They,  who  had 
neglected  these  things  during  their  lifetime, 

B 


were  delivered  over  to  hell,  or  at  least  to  pur- 
gatory, until  their  relations  should  relieve 
them  by  rendering  satisfaction  for  them, 
by  masses  or  purchasing  indulgences.  The 
preaching  of  the  word  of  God  was  the 
least  of  the  performances  of  the  clergy  ; 
continual  processions  and  other  jugglaries 
were  considered  more  necessary.  The  num- 
ber of  clericks  was  immense  and  their  con- 
duct Avas  as  scandalous  as  possible.  The 
bible  Avasnotto  be  had,  and  even  those  srnali 
portions  of  scripture,  which  were  translated, 
were  forbidden  to  be  read.”* 

In  England  there  was  a krw  enacted,  du- 
ring the  reign  of  Henry  V.  and  still  in  force 
in  the  beginning  of  the  16th  century,  that 
Avhoever  should  read  the  scriptures  in  the 
mother  tongue,  should  forfeit  land,  cattle,  life 
and  goods,  and  be  condemned  for  heretics 
to  God,  enemies  to  the  crown  and  most  arrant 
traitors  to  the  land. 


* Milner’s  Church  history. 


15 


From  these  testimonies  We  cannot  help 
observing  that  the  darkness  of  those  times 
must  have  been  great  indeed,  and  that  there 
was  but  very  little  difference,  except  in  name, 
between  Christians  and  heathens. 

This,  then,  was  the  state  of  Christianity  at 
the  beginning  of  the  16th  century,  when 
Martin  Luther  stepped  forward  to  begin 
great  work  of  reformation 


Fart  I 


HISTORY 

OF  THE 


CHURCH. 


I remember  the  days  of  old  ; I meditate  on  all  thy  works.: 
Imuseon  the  work  of  thy  hands.  David,  Ps.  143,  5 . 


• ■ - . . 


■ ■-'■■■ 

'■  V £ 


HISTORY,  &c. 


Martin  Luther  was  the  son  of  John 
Luther  and  Margaret  Lindeman,  his  wife, 
and  was  born  atEisleben,  atownin  the  county 
of  Mansfield,  in  the  circle  of  upper  Saxony*, 
on  the  10th  day  of  November,  A.  D.  1483. 
His  father’s  occupation  was  that  of  a miner, 
although  we  afterwards  find  him  elevated  to 
a very  respectable  situation,  in  the  magistra- 
cy of  his  native  province.  Martin  discove- 
red an  early  inclination  for  learning,  and  hav  - 
ing  attained  the  rudiments  of  grammar  at 
home,  he  was  sent  to  school  at  Magdeburg, 
where  he  supported  himself,  like  many  other 
poor  german  scholars,  by  begging  his  bread. * 

From  Magdeburg  he  went  to  Eisenach, 
in  Thuringia,  and  distinguished  himself  in  a 
school  of  high  reputation  by  his  diligence 
and  proficiency. 

* Melchior  Addams  says,  ‘ mendicato  vivere  pane 


In  the  year  ISO),  Luther  was  sent  to  the 
university  of  Erfurt,  where  he  attended  the 
regular  courses  of  logic  and  philosophy  then 
in  vogue,  but  being  disgusted  with  the  man 
ner  in  which  these  sciences  were  taught,  he 
applied  himself  with  the  greatest  ardor  and 
assiduity  to  the  works  of  the  ancient  Latin 
authors,  such  as  Cicero,  Virgil,  Livy,  Sal- 
lust, &c.  and  such  was  the  success,  with 
which  he  studied,  that  he  became  the  object 
of  admiration  to  the  whole  university.  At 
the  age  of  twenty,  he  took  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts,  and  soon  after  read  lectures 
on  Aristotle’s  physics,  ethics  and  other 
branches  of  philosophy.  He  began  now  to 
consider  the  profession,  which  he  should  a- 
dopt  for  his  support  in  life,  and  by  the  per 
suasion  of  his  friends,  he  turned  his  attention 
to  jurisprudence,  commonly  called  law  ; 
from  this  pursuit,  however,  he  was  diverted 
by  an  accident,  which  no  doubt-  was  wisely 
ordered  by  divine  Providence,  in  order  to 
render  his  great  talents  serviceable  to  man- 
kind in  a more  extensive  sphere.  We  learn 
from  Melchior  Addams,  Du  Pin  and  others, 
that  Luther,  walking  out  into  the  fields  one 


day,  with  his  friend  Alexis,  \\  as  suddenly 
struck  with  lightning,  so  as  to  fall  to  the 
ground,  while  his  companion  was  killed  by 
his  side  ; this  circumstance  affected  him  so 
sensibly,  that  without  communicating  his 
purpose  to  any  of  his  friends,  he  withdrew 
himself  soon  after  from  the  world,  and  retired 
into  a convent  of  Augustine  friars.  Here  he 
soon  acquired^  very  high  reputation,  not  on* 
ly  for  his  singular  piety,  but  for  his  indefati- 
gable application  to  the  study  of  Augustine 
and  the  ancient  fathers.  It  was  here  that  in 
turning  over  the  books  of  the  library,  he  pro- 
videntially found  an  old  copy  of  the  latin 
bible,  which  lay  neglected  and  which  he  had 
never  seen  before  ; this  he  read  over  with, 
great  avidity,  and  was  astonished  to  find, 
what  a small  portion  of  the  scriptures  was 
read  to  the  people  and  known  by  them.  — 
“When I was  twenty  years  old,”  he  says 
himself,  “ I had  not  yet  seen  a bible.  I 
thought  the  whole  bible  consisted  of  the  por- 
tions of  scripture,  called  Gospels  and  Epis- 
tles, which  are  read  on  Sundays  in  the  church- 
es ; at  last  I found  a bible  in  the  library  of 
Erfurt,  which  1 read  with  the  greatest  pleas- 
ure and  astonishment,” 


Having  passed  a year  in  the  monastery 
of  Erfurt,  he  took  the  vow  and  was  admit- 
ted to  priest’s  orders.  His  great  and  pro- 
found learning,  the  sanctity  of  his  moral  con- 
duct, and  his  extensive  knowledge  of  the 
scriptures  were  generally  known  and  ap- 
plauded, and  in  the  following  year  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  Frederick  the  Elector  of  Saxo- 
ny, to  the  professorship  of  philosophy  at  the 
university  of  Wittenberg.  The  duties 
attached  to  this  office  he  discharged  with  so 
much  ability,  and  in  a manner  so  totally  dif- 
ferent from  the  usual  mechanical  and  dull 
forms  of  lecturing,  that  he  was  crowded  with 
students  from  all  quarters,  and  was  regarded 
as  the  chief  ornament  of  the  university. 

In  the  year  1510,  he  was  sent  to  Rome 
by  the  monks  of  his  order.  Seven  of  then- 
convents  had  a controversy  with  their  vicar- 
general,  and  Luther  was  chosen  to  maintain 
their  cause,  and  have  their  dispute  settled  by 
his  holiness  the  pope,  at  Rome.  While  in 
that  city,  he  saw  the  pope  and  the  court,  and 
had  a very  good  opportunity  of  observing 
’he  marmeijs  of  the  clergy.  The  carelesnesn. 


with  which  they  were  accustomed  to  offer 
up  their  prayers  to  Almighty  God,  he  declares 
excited  in  his  breast,  sentiments  of  aston- 
ishment and  horror.  “ I performed  mass 
at  Rome”  says  he,  “ but  was  laughed  at,  be- 
cause I wished  to  do  it  in  a solemn  manner 
some  even  called  to  me  to  h niffy,  and  put 
the  holy  virgin’s  son  into  his  closet.  I also 
saw  divine  service  performed  by  others,  but 
in  such  a manner,  that  I can  never  think  of 
it  without  the  utmost  horror.”  He  himseif, 
confessed  that  what  he  saw  here,  convinced 
him  of  the  great  necessity  of  a reformation. 

Having  adjusted  the  disputes,  and  return- 
ed to  Wittenberg,  he  was  created  a Doctor 
of  divinity.  He  now  applied  himself  with 
all  diligence  to  the  duties  of  the  theological 
chair.  He  read  lectures  on  the  several 
books  of  the  scriptures  ; he  commented  es- 
pecially on  the  epistle  to  tire  Romans  and  on 
the  book  of  Psalms,  and  his  illustrations  were 
so  striking,  that  he  was  regarded  by  many, 
as  the  harbinger  of  a new  day,  ready  to  break 
out  after  a long  night  of  darkness  and  igno- 
rance, and  multitudes  were  led  to  think  and 


S4 

to  reason  on  matters  of  high  importance,  who 
had  never  before  reflected  or  thought  b'eyond 
the  concerns  of  the  present  world.  He  op- 
posed, with  a vehemence  that  could  scarce- 
ly be  withstood,  the  errors,  which  had  long 
been  existing  in  the  church  and  schools, 
showing  that  the  scriptures  were  the  only 
test  of  sound  doctrine  and  practical  morality. 

From  a letter,  which  he  wrote  to  a friend 
about  that  time,  we  may  learn  the  true  sp'r- 
itual  state  of  his  mind  ; “ What  is  the  state 
of  thy  soul  ? I would  wish  to  know  whether 
you  have  become  weary  of  your  own  right- 
eousness. and  learned  to  refresh  yourself,  and 
' . „ * cp 

place  your  only  trust  in  the  righteousness  of 

Christ.  For  in  our  days  there  is  in  many  a 
vain  conceit  to  become  righteous  through 
their  own  works,  and  they  know  nothing  of 
the  righteousness  of  Gcd,  which  is  granted 
unto  us  richly  and  freely  in  Christ  Jesus. — 
You  were  once  of  this  opinion,  and  so  was  I, 
however  I am  now  striving  against  this  er- 
ror, although  I have  not  as  yet  entirely  con- 
quered.” 


25 


About  this  time  the  learned  and  worthy 
'Staupitz  appointed  Luther  his  deputy,  to  vis- 
it the  forty  convents,  over  which  he  had  the 
inspection.  During  this  visitation  he  en- 
deavored to  communicate  his  new  doctrines, 
and  wherever  it  could  be  done,  he  establish- 
ed schools,  which  were  very  scarce  before. 
“ Without  schools,”  said  he,  “ men  will  be- 
. come  bears  and  wolves  : things  must  not 
continue  in  their  present  state  ; we  must  ex- 
ert ourselves,  and  regulate  schools  in  such  a 
manner  that  religious  principles  be  taught  in 
Ihem.  Were  I no  preacher,  I know  of  no 
occupation,  which  I would  rather  choose  ; 
for  I am  persuaded  it  is  an  occupation  high- 
ly acceptable  to  God,  and  productive  of  great 
good.”  At  the  same  time  he  exhorted  the 
monks  to  read  the  bible  diligently,  and  to 
lead  a holy  and  virtuous  life.  And  it  was 
by  his  persuasion,  that  the  scriptures  were 
daily  read  at  the  public  meetings  of  these 
convents,  instead  of  the  works  of  Aristotle 
and  the  fathers. 

It  was  m the  year  of  our  Lord  1517.  when 
Luther  openly  undertook  the  arduous  task  of 

c 

tin 


a reformer,  but  probably  without  thinking 
himself  of  the  wonderful  extent,  to  which  his 
researches  and  exertions  would  afterwards 
reach  and  be  carried.  To  subvert  a system 
of  religious  faith,  grounded  on  ancient  and 
deeply  rooted  prejudices,  supported  by  eve- 
ry contrivance  of  policy  and  every  effort  of 
power  ! to  establish  doctrines  of  an  opposite 
tendency  in  its  stead  ! to  accomplish  this  ob- 
ject without  the  aid  of  external  violence  ! 
These  things  certainly  never  came  into  the 
mind  of  Luther  at  that  time  ; he  was  im- 
perceptibly drawn  into  them  by  his  love  of 
truth  and  adherence  to  the  word  of  God. 

JohnTetzel,  called  by  some  Tecelius,  a 
Dominican  friar,  had  come  to  Germany,  by 
order  of  pope  Leo  the  Xth,  to  sell  indulgen- 
ces or  pardons  for  sins.  This  pope  found 
the  papal  treasury  exhausted  by  the  vast  pro- 
jects of  his  predecessors,  and  his  own  love 
of  splendor  involved  him  daily  in  new  ex- 
pences.  The  grand  church  of ; St  Peters  at 
Rome  was  begun,  but  not  finished,  and  in  or- 
der to  get  money,  he  bestowed  indulgences 
On  all,  who  would  contribute  towards  that 


building.  The  right  of  selling  these  indul- 
gences in  Germany,  together  with  a share 
in  the  profits  arising  from  the  sale,  of  them, 
was  granted  to  Albert,  elector  of  Mentz,  and 
archbishop  of  Magdeburg,  who  employed 
Tetzel  as  his  chief  agent,  in  retailing  them 
in  Saxony.  Tetzel  executed  his  commis- 
sion with  great  zeal  and  success,  but  with- 
out regard  to  any  principles  of  prudence  or 
decency,  for  he  was  a man  of  licentious  mor* 
als,  and  remarkable  for  his  noisy  popular  el- 
oquence. Ke  went  so  far  as  to  say,  that  his 
commission  from  the  pope  was  so  extensive* 
that  though  a man  should  have  deflowered 
the  blessed  virgin,  yet  for  money  he  might 
be  pardoned;  that  he,  Tetzel,  had  saved 
more  souls  by  his  indulgences,  than  St.  Paul 
by  all  his  preaching  ; that  as  soon  as  the 
sound  of  the  money,  that  was  paid  for  them, 
was  heard  in  the  bason,  into  which  it  was 
thrown,  the  souls  for  which  it  was  given, 
were  released  from  purgatory,*  and  that 
he  was  empowered  to  give  indulgences  not 

* “ So  bald  das  geld  im  kasten  klingt— so  bald  die 
seep  iu  himmel  springt.” 


38 


only  for  sins  past,  but  also  for  sins  to  be  com- 
mitted afterwards,  t 

Perhaps  some  of  my  readers  may  be  anxi- 
ous to  see  a list  of  the  prices,,  according  to 
which  Tetzel  sold  his  indulgences. — Here 
is  an  extract  from  it  r 

f When  Tetzel  was  at  Leipsigandhad  received  a 
great  sum  of  money,  a nobleman  came  to  him  and 
desired  to  know  whether  he  could  obtain  indulgence 
tor  a sin,  which  he  had  a mind  to  commit,  but  which 
was  to  be  kept  a secret.  O yes,  said  Tetzel,  provi- 
ded that  the  price  be  paid  immediately.  The  nobleman 
paid  the  sum  demanded  and  received  a certificate  or 
letter  of  indulgence,  regularly  signed  by  Tetzel  in 
the  name  of  the  Pope.  A snort  time  after  Tetzel 
leftLeipsic  with  his  company  of  monks,  and  was  trav- 
elling on  with  a number  of  asses  loaded  with  money. 
The  nobleman  with  a few  companions  attacked  him, 
beat  his  servants  away,  took  his  money  and  gave 
him  a severe  beating.  Tetzel  cried  out,  O thou  man 
of  the  devil,  knowest  thou  not  that  this  is  holy  mon- 
ey, and  that  I am  an  emissary  of  the  holy  father; 
thou  shalt  surely  suffer  for  this  in  hell  ! “ As  to 

that”  answered  the  nobleman,  u I am  safe  enough— 
I have  a letter  of  indulgence.  Look,  here  it  is  sign- 
ed by  yourself,  in  the  name  of  the  holy  father  ; this 
was  the  sin,  which  I intended  to  commit,  and  for 
which  I came  to  you  for  indulgence.” 

See  Milnov  cmljSsckendorf’s  history. 


An  indulgence  tor  polygamy, 
for  common  murder, 
for  the  murder  of  a fether,  mother, 
brother  or  sister, 
for  witchcraft  and  sorcery, 
for  perjury, 
for  church  robbery, 
for  sodomy, 

A ducat  is  about  $2,07. 

The  form  of  the  indulgence  or  absolution, 
signed  by  Tetzel,  concluded  with  these 
words,  “ I re-astablish  you  in  the  innocence, 
which  you  received  at  your  baptism,  so  that 
if  you  die  soon,  the  gate  of  punishment  will 
be  shut,  and  the  gate  of  happiness  open  to 
you,  and  if  you  do  not  die  soon,  this  grace 
will  be  reserved  and  secured  to  you.”  See 
Luther's  xuarks  and  Priestly's  history  vol.  5. 

As  soon  as  Luther  heard  of  TetzePs  pro- 
ceedings, he  wrote  to  Albert,  remonstrating 
against  the  false  opinions  as  well  as  the  wick- 
ed lives  of  the  distributors  of  indulgences, 
and  intreated  him  earnestly  to  exercise  his 
authority  for  correcting  these  abuses.  But 
B 2 


6 ducats, 

7 

11 

2 

9 


f 


30 


finding’  that  the  archbishop,  instead  of  cor- 
recting them,  gave  more  strict  orders  to  the 
commissioner  to  enforce  and  press,  with  all 
possible  diligence,  the  power  and  distribu- 
tion of  indulgences,  he  publicly,  from  the 
pulpit  began  to  preach  against  them,  and 
pointed  out  the  danger  of  relying  for  salva- 
tion upon  any  other  means,  than  those  ap- 
pointed by  God  in  his  word.  At  the  same 
time  he  published  a paper,  containing  ninety 
five  theses  or  propositions,  chiefly  upon  the 
subject  of  indulgences,  which  he  fixed  up  at 
the  church  door  at  W ittenberg,  with  a chal- 
lenge to  the  learned  to  oppose  them,  on  an 
appointed  day,  either  in  person  or  by  wri- 
ting.* Among  other  things,  which  Luther 
advanced  in  these  propositions,  were  the  fol- 
lowing : “ That  the  life  of  a Christian  ought 
to  be  a perpetual  penance  ; that  the  pope  can 
only  have  the  power  of  remitting  canonical 
penances ; that  the  canons  of  penance  can- 
not extend  to  the  dead  ; that  the  treasure, 
which  the  church  distributes,  is  not  that  of 

* This  was  done  on  the  31st  day  of  October,  1517. 
This  day  is  therefore  considered  as  the  day  of  Jubilee 
of  the  protestanf  churches. 


u 


the  tnerits  of  Christ  or  of  the  Saints  ; that 
the  treasure  of  indulgences  is  the  gospel  ; 
that  the  gospel  was  the  net  with  which  the  a~ 
postles  caught  men,  but  that  indulgences  are 
the  net  wiih  which  priests  fish  for  money.’'' 

Luther' s works-- Priestly' s church  history . 

These  theses  spread  with  astonishing  ra- 
pidity throughout  Germany,  and  all  admired 
the  man,  who  had  the  boldness  thus  to  step 
forward  in  opposition  to  the  pope.* 

As  soon  as  Tetzel  observed  the  noise, 
which  Luther’s  thesis  had  made,  he  wrote 
and  published  a paper  containing  106  propo- 
sitions, directly  opposite  to  Luther’s,  and 
burnt  the  theses  of  Luther  publicly  at  Frank*- 
ford,  and  threatening  at  the  same  time,  to  do 
the  same  to  Luther,  and  all  who  opposed  in- 

* When  Luther  was  fixing  up  his  theses,  a foreign- 
er, clapping  his  hand  on  Luther’s  shoulders,  said  to 
him  in  alow  Dutch  dialect,  “ Min  leeve  broderMer- 
tin,  wenn  du  dat  fegefiir  und  die  pappenmarketender- 
ey  stiirmen  und  wegschludern  kanst,  hist  du  fur- 
wahr  ein  groterherr.”  i.  e.  61  My  dear  brother  Mar 
tin,  if  you  can  storm  and  cast  away  that  purgatosy 
and  toyshop,  you  are  indeed  a great  lord,” 


32 


diligences.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  address, 
he  says,  “ that  whoever  should  write  against 
indulgences,  or  the  power  of  the  pope,  must 
expect  eternal  damnation  hereafter,  and 
the  most  rigorous  punishment  at  present,  ad- 
ding from  the  books  of  Moses,  “ every  beast 
that  touches  the  mountain  (holy  church) 
shall  be  stoned.” 

It  does  not  appear,  that  at  this  early  period, 
Luther  had  any  intention  of  setting  himself  a- 
gainst  the  power  of  the  pope  ; he  even  wrote 
a letter  to  his  holiness,  in  the  most  respect- 
ful terms,  shewing  the  uprightness  of  his  in- 
tentions, and  the  justice  of  the  cause,  of 
which  he  was  the  advocate  ; however  the 
pope,  incited  by  the  incessant  representations 
of  Luther’s  adversaries,  issued  an  order  for 
his  appearance  within  sixty  days  at  Rome,  to 
justify  himself.  Against  this,  the  elector  of 
Saxony  remonstrated,  urging  that  Luther  be- 
ing one  of  his  subjects,  had  a right  to  be 
heard  in  Germany,  and  the  university  of 
Wittenberg  interceding  for  him,  the  pope 
consented  that  his  cause  should  be  referred  to 
his  legate  cardinal  Cajetan,  who  was  then  at 


33 


Augsburg  When  Luther  left  home  to  go 
to  Aug,  i . ; :ed  his  sorrowing 

friends,  ai  i ; rd . ' ana  debtor  to  Jesus 
Corist,  who  Iv.s  -dso  said  to  me — I will  shew 
him,  how  muc  be  must  suffer  for  my  name’s 
sake  ; my  house  is  put  in  order  ; honor  and 
character  they  are  tearing  away  from  me; 
there  is  only  remaining  a weak  body  subject 
to  continual  illness,  if  they  take  it,  they  vrill 
only  shorten  my  life  a few  hours  ; my  soul 
they  cannot  take,  they  cannot  injure  ; Jesus 
my  master  and  my  redeemer  is  sufficient  for 
me,  and  as  long  as  I live  I will  sing  hymns  to 
his  praise.  ” 

W ith  these  thoughts  he  went  and  arrived 
at  Augsburg,  in  the  month  of  October  1518. 
Cajetan  received  him  in  a friendly  manner, 
but  desired  that  he  should  recant  his  errors,, 
and  cease  teaching  his  pernicious  doctrines, 
Luther  begged  to  know  what  his  errors  were, 
and  promised  that  he  would  cheerfully  ret~ 
tract  any  doctrine  he  had  taught,  provided  it 
could  be  proved  from  the  scriptures,  that  it 
was  a false  doctrine.  “ I may  have  erred  : ” 
these  were  his  wiord.s— no  doubt  I have  of. 


34 


ten  erred,  but  my  errors  must  be  first  proved 
irom  scripture,  before  I can  recant.”  Cajetan 
however  insisted  on  his  recantation.  After 
several  conferences,  Luther  presented  a pa- 
per to  the  legate,  which,  he  said,  contained 
all  he  had  to  answer.  The  legate  received 
the  paper,  but  commanded  Luther  not  to  ap- 
pear again  in  his  presence  unless  he  brought 
a recantation  with  him. 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  Cajetan 
sent  for  Staupitz  and  desired  him  to  use  ail  Jus 
influence,  to  persuade  the  young  monk  to 
recant.  Staupitz  promised  to  do  all  he 
could.  You  must  answer  and  confute  his 
scripture  arguments”  saidCajetan.  “That’s 
more  than  I can  do,”  answered  Staupitz,  “ I 
am  far  behind  him,  as  well  in  abilities,  as  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  holy  scriptures.” 

Luther  finding  he  had  much  to  apprehend 
from  the  cardinal’s  resentment  and  power, 
withdrew  from  Augsburg.  In  Wittenberg  he 
continued  to  teach  as  usual.  Not  content 
with  this,  he  proceeded  to  challenge  all  the 
inquisitors  to  come  and  dispute  with  him,  of 


35 


ferine;  them  a safe  conduct  from  his  prince, 
and  likewise  assuring  them  of  good  enter- 
tainment, during  the  time  they  should  remain 
at  Wittenbrg. 

The  pope  now  endeavored  to  put  an  end 
to  these  disputes  by  a decision  of  his  own, 
and  for  that  purpose  published  a brief,  on  the 
9th  of  November,  directed  to  cardinal  Ca- 
jetan,  in  which  he  asserts,  “ that  the  pope  as 
successor  to  St.  Peter  and  vicar-general  of 
Jesus  Christ  upon  earth,  hath  full  power  by 
virtue  of  the  keys,  to  absolve  both  from  the 
guilt  and  punishment  of  sin  ; from  the  guilt, 
by  the  sacrament  of  penance  ; and  from  tem- 
poral punishments  due  for  actual  sins,  by 
the  merits  of  indulgences,  a treasure  of  su- 
pererogation wholly  at  the  pope’s  disposal  ; 
and  that  both  the  dead  and  the  living,  who 
duly  obtain  these  indulgences  are  immedi- 
ately released  from  guilt  and  punishment,” 
&c.  This  brief  further  ordained  that  all  men, 
should  hold  the  doctrine  contained  in  it,  un- 
der pain  of  excommunication,  and  enjoins 
the  cardinal  to  transmit  it  forthwith  to  the 
different  archbishops  and  bishops  of  Germa- 


36 


ny,  and  cause  it  to  be  put  in  execution  b) 
them.  Luther  was  now  convinced  that  he 
had  nothing  to  expect  from  Rome  but  con- 
demnation,  and  he  therefore  published  a new 
appeal  from  the  pope  to  a general  council, 
in  which  he  asserts,  that  a council  of  divines 
had  greater  authority  than  the  pope. 

About  this  time  the  pope  gave  his  cham 
berlain,  Charles  Miltiz,  a Saxon  nobleman, 
orders  to  try  what  he  could  do  with  the  elec- 
tor of  Saxony  and  Luther,  so  as  to  settle  all 
disputes.  He  had  a conference  with  Luther 
at  Altenburg,  which  lasted  several  days,  but 
produced  no  material  change. 

In  the  year  151 9,  Luther  went  to  Leip- 
sig,  on  a challenge  of  Dr.  Eck  (Eckius)  to* 
a disputation.  Eck  had  challenged  Carl- 
stadt  to  dispute  v>  ith  him  on  free  will,  and  at 
the  same  time  urged  Luther  to  enter  the  lists 
with  him,  on  the  subject  of  the  pope’s  au- 
thority and  supremacy.  The  challenge  was 
accepted,  and  oh  the  appointed  day  the  three 
champions  appeared.  The  assembly  which 
met  to  witness  the  disputes,  was  numerous 


37 


and  splendid,  and  all  the  combatants  con 
ducted  themselves  with  great  skill  and  dex- 
terity. In  the  course  of  the  debate,  Luther 
no  dcnbt  was  carried  further  than  he  wished 
to  go,  being  fed  on  from  one  argument  to  a- 
nother  ; he  maintained  that  the  church  of 
Rome,  in  the  earlier  ages,  had  never  been 
considered  as  superior  to  other  churches, 
and  combated  the  pretensions  cf  that  church 
and  its  bishops,  from  the  testimony  of  scrip- 
ture, the  authority  of  the  fathers,  and  the 
most  approved  ecclesiastical  historians, 
and  even  from  the  decrees  of  the  council  at 
Nice  ; while  the  best  arguments  of  his  ad- 
versary were  derived fr cm  spurious  decretals, 
none  of  which  could  boast  of  an  antiquity  e- 
qual  to  that  of  four  centuries.  Hoffman,  the 
President,  refused  to  declare  on  which  side 
victory  had  fallen.  Dr.  Eck,  however, 
clearly  saw  that  the  hearers  generally  declared 
in  favor  of  Luther,  and  from  thai  moment, 
he  breathed  fury  and  revenge  against  him. — - 
He  even repaiied  to  Rome,  and  induced  the 
pope  to  assemble  the  college  of  cardinals  to 
prepare  a sentence  of  condemnation  against 
him. 


D 


It  was  on  the  15th  of  June  1520,  when 
Leo  issued  his  famous  bull  against  Luther 
and  his  followers.  In  the  beginning  of  it  he 
invokes  the  name  and  aid  of  Jesus  Christ,  erf 
St.  Peter,  St.  Paul  and  all  the  saints,  in  the 
most  solemn  expressions,  against  the  newly 
introduced  errors  and  heresies,  and  for  the 
'preservation  of  the  faith,  peace  and  unity  of 
the  catholic  church  ; he  then  expresses  his 
great  grief  for  the  late  propagation  of  these 
errors  in  Germany,  and  after  enumerating  41 
propositions,  collected  from  different  parts  of 
Luther’s  writings,  he  solemnly  denounces 
and  condemns  all  and  each  of  them  as  heret- 
ical, and  prohibits  all  Christians,  under  pain 
of  excommunication  from  holding,  defend- 
ing or  preaching  any  of  the  said  propositions, 
and  from  hearing  or  suffering  others  to  preach 
■them.  As  to  Luther,  the  term  of  sixty  days 
should  be  granted  him  for  consideration  and 
repentance  ; but  if  in  that  time  he  should  re- 
main stubborn,  and  not  burn  his  books,  he 
should  be  delivered  unto  Satan,  for  the  de- 
struction of  the  flesh,  and  immediately  incur 
all  the  pains  and  penalties  due  to  convicted 
heretics  ; and  all  secular  princes  were  re* 


quired,  under  pain  of  incurring  the  same  cen- 
sure, to  seize  his  person,  that  he  might  be 
punished. 

Luther,  however,  was  not  to  be  intimidated 
by  such  acts.  He  continued  to  write  as 
much  as  ever.  He  published  a book  against 
the  pope’s  bull  ; another,  entitled  the  captiv- 
ity of  Babylon  ; another,  to  expose  the  vices, 
ambition  and  arrogance  of  the  court  of  Rome  ; 
and  another  on  the  necessity  of  a reforma- 
tion. He  even  went  further,  and  on  the  10th. 
of  December,  1520,  having  assembled  all  the 
professors  and  students  of  the  university,  he 
publicly  burnt,  in  the  presence  of  a multi- 
tude of  people  of  all  ranks  and  orders,  the 
pope’s  bull  of  excommunication,  and  the  de- 
cretals and  canons  relating  to  his  supreme  ju- 
risdiction ; and  this  example  was  soon  fol- 
lowed in  other  cities  of  Germany. 

Shortly  after  this,  Charles  Vth,  Emperor' 
of  Germany,  gave  orders  to  assemble  a diet 
of  the  empire  at  Worms.  This  meeting  was 
fixed  for  the  beginning  of  the  year  1521.— 
The  express  purpose  of  it  was,  as  the  empe- 


40 


ror’s  circular  letter  said,  to  concert  measures 
to  check  the  progress  of  the  ne  w and  danger- 
ous opinions,  which  threatened  to  disturb  the 
peace  of  Germany,  and  to  overthrow  the  reli- 
gion of  their  ancestors.  As  soon  as  the  diet 
was  assembled  at  Worms  the  papal  legates 
insisted  that  they  were  bound,  without  delib- 
eration, to  condemn  a man,  whom  the  pope 
had  already  excommunicated  as  an  obstinate 
heretic.  The  elector  of  Saxony,  however, 
insisted  that  he  ought  to  have  his  cause  tried 
by  the  canons  of  the  Germanic  church  and 
the  laws  of  the  empire.  It  was  therefore  re- 
solved that  Luther  should  be  summoned  be- 
fore the  diet,  and  be  allowed  a hearing,  be- 
fore any  final  sentence  should  be  pronounced 
against  him.  He  was  accordingly  summon- 
ed to  appear.  His  friends  earnestly  dissua- 
ded him  from  going  thither,  reminding  him 
of  the  fate  of  Huss,  who  was  burnt ; but  he 
answered,  “I  am  summoned,  and  I must 
appear  ; that  God,  who  preserved  the  three 
men  in  the  burning  furnace  is  yet  reigning — 
he  can  protect  me  ; but  if  he  will  not,  all 
that  theycan  do,  is  to  take  my  life.  I will  go 
in  the  name  of  the  Most  High,  though  there 


4?i 


were  ashnany  devils  in  Worms  as  tiles  on 
the  houses.” 

On  the  16th  of  April,  Luther  arrived  at 
Worms,  where  immense  crowds  had  assem- 
bled to  see  him.  In  the  presence  of  the  diet, 
he  behaved  with  becoming  respect.  Two 
questions  were  proposed  to  him  : 1st,  wheth- 
er he  owned  the  books  published  under  his 
name,  and2dly,  whether  he  would  recal  them 
or  not  ? Luther’s  attorney  desired  that  the 
books  should  be  named  and  produced : this 
being  done,  Luther  boldly  owned  them.  As 
to  the  2d  question,  he  desired  time  for  con- 
sideration— this  was  granted.  The  next  day 
he  appeared  again,  and  after  a very  able  ad- 
dress to  the  emperor  and  the  members,  com- 
posing the  diet,  he  declared,  that  his  books 
were  of  three  kinds  ; in  some  he  had  only 
taught  tenets  of  religion,  these  he  could  not 
revoke,  unless  it  was  proved  by  holy  writ, 
that  they  were  erroneous  ; his  conscience 
and  the  fear  of  God  would  not  permit  him  : 
in  others,  he  had  attacked  the  false  doctrines 
of  the  Roman  church,  these  also  he  was  not 
disposed  to  recal,  for  he  had  not  written  any 
D 2 


'12 


thing  but  what  was  true  ; and  in  others  he 
had  severely  censured  private  persons  ; with 
respect  to  these,  he  confessed  that  he  had 
sometimes  been  carried  away  by  the  ardor  of 
his  temper,  and  that  his  vehemence  could  not 
always  be  justified.  With  this  answer  how- 
ever, neither  the  emperor,  nor  the  pope’s  le- 
gate was  contented  ; they  insisted  upon  it, 
that  he  should  say  yes  or  no,  whether  he 
would  recant  his  doctrines  or  not.  To  this 
he  answered,  u unless  I am  convinced  by 
reason  and  texts  of  scripture,  that  I have 
erred,  I cannot,  I will  not  repant.  I never 
will  act  contrary  to  the  word  of  God,  and  to 
die  dictates  of  my  conscience.  Here  I am 
standing  before  God  and  you  ; I cannot  do 
or  say  otherwise— so  help  me  God,  amen.” 
All  who  were  present  were  astonished  at  his 
address  and  intrepidity.  Some  of  them  even 
said  aloud,  they  never  heard  a man  speak  so  : 
the  hearts  of  all  were  warmed. 

On  the  26th  day  of  April,  Luther  left 
Worms  ; but  scarcely  had  he  left  the  city, 
when  in  the  emperor’s  name  and  by  the  au 
fhority  of  the  diet>  he  was  pronounced  an  ob 


innate  heretic,  a member  east  off  from  the 
church,  deprived  of  the  privileges  he  had  en- 
joyed as  asubject  of  the  empire,  and  the  sever- 
est punishments  were  denounced  against 
those  who  should  receive,  entertain  or  counte- 
nance him,  either  by  acts  of  hospitality,  by 
conversation  or  writing,  and  all  were  required 
to  assist  in  seizing  his  person,  as  soon  as  the 
term  of  his  safe  conduct  (which  was  twenty- 
one  days)  expired. 

The  elector  of  Saxony,  aware  of  his  danger, 
was  however  determined,  if  possible,  to  save 
him.  He  induced  several  brave  noblemen  to 
disguise  themselves,  and  to  take  Luther  into 
their  custody.  Accordingly,  when  Luther 
was  travelling  through  the  Thuringian  woods 
with  his  escort,  these  noblemen  rushed  for- 
ward, drove  away  the  escort,  and  carried  him 
off,  with  the  utmost  speed,  to  an  old  castle 
called  Wartenburg.  Here  he  lived  in  secret 
and  without  fear  of  being  murdered  by  his 
enemies  ; for  the  most  of  them  considered 
him  to  be  dead.  They  however  burn  his 
effigy  and  his  books  in  many  catholic  places* 
When  Luther  was  infornjed  of  this,  he  smi* 


M' 


led  and  said,  44  let  them  not  only  bum  my 
books  and  my  effigy,  but  even  my  body  ; if 
the  people  do  but  keep  the  bible  ; that  is  suf- 
ficient to  open  their  eyes.”  During  the  pe- 
riod of  his  solitude,  he  translated  a great  part 
of  the  new  testament  into  the  German  lan- 
guage, and  wrote  several  tracts  in  defence  of 
his  doctrines,  and  many  letters  to  his  friends. 

To  give  hurt  some  exercise,  several  noble- 
men occasionally  came  and  took  him  out  a 
hunting,  but  he  had  no  pleasure  in  such  a- 
musement.  “ A few  days  ago”  (says  he  in 
a letter  to  a friend)  “ I was  out  a hunting,  and 
saw  the  fatiguing  and  cruel  pleasure  of  our 
great  lords;  they  caught  several  rabbits  and 
some  birds  ! indeed  a mighty  occupation  for 
idle  people  i with  great  trouble  I had  caught 
a young  rabbit,  and  carefully  wrapped  it  in 
my  cloak,  to  save  its  life  from  the  hunters  and 
the  dogs  ; but  the  dogs  at  length  found  it  out 
and  killed  it,  in  spite  of  all  my  endeavors  to 
save  it.  I will  have  no  more  to  do  with 
hunting” 

Luther  hearing  that  Carlstadt  had  created 


disturbances  in  Wittenberg,  and  presuming 
that  his  presence  would  be  necessary,  left  the 
castle,  which  he  called  his  Patmos,  and  arriv- 
ed at  Wittenberg  in  the  month  of  March, 
1522.  He  soon  settled  the  dispute  and  put 
things  in  proper  order.  On  the  21st  of  Sep- 
tember he  completed  the  translation  of  tne 
new  testament,  which  was  immediately  pub- 
lished, and  put  into  the  hands  of  the  people. 
From  this  time  the  reformation  spread  rap- 
idly, for  the  people  were  now  enabled  t© 
judge  for  themselves.  A number  of  princi- 
paiities  and  cities  sent  to  Luther  and  desir- 
ed instruction  and  counsel,  how  to  regulate 
their  church  affairs.  The  elector  of  Bran- 
denburg, the  dukes  of  Brunswick  and  Lu- 
nenburg, and  the  prince  of  Anhalt  became  a- 
vowed  patrons  of  his  opinions,  and  counte- 
nanced the  preaching  of  them  in  their  terri- 
tories. 

The  king  of  Denmark,  Christian  2d,  desir- 
ed teachers  from  Saxony,  and  Martin  Ray- 
nard  was  sent  thither  to  introduce  Luther's 
principles,  and  such  was  the  effect  that,  in  a 
short  time  the  reformation  was  completed  in 


46 


liis  kingdom.  In  Sweden,  Olaus  Petri,  a dis 
ciple  of  Luther,  began  to  preach,  the  scrip, 
tures  were  translated  into  the  native  language., 
and  the  reformation  was  soon  established. — 
In  England  the  writings  of  Luther  were  trans- 
lated and  made  a great  impression,  so  that 
the  principles  of  reformation  were  eagerly 
embraced.  In  consequence  of  this,  Henry 
8th  himself,  the  king  of  England,  wrote  a- 
gainst  Luther,  for  which  he  obtained  the  ti- 
tle of  Defender  of  the  Faith  from  the  pope. 
In  the  Low  Countries  (Netherlands)  the  doc- 
trine of  Luther  spread  so  rapidly  that  a pla- 
card was  published,  by  order  of  Charles  Vth, 
to  stop  its  progress.  In  this  placard  it  was 
said,  that  Luther  was  not  a human  creature, 
but  a devil  in  the  shape  of  a man,  and  the 
habit  of  a monk,  that  he  might  the  more  easi- 
ly occasion  the  destruction  of  mankind.  And 
Erasmus  himself  tells  us,  that  in  the  year 
1522,  the  doctrines  of  Luther  spread  so 
much  in  Antwerp,  that  it  was  thought  neces- 
sary to  burn  several  of  his  followers,  so  as  to 
deter  others  from  embracing  them,  and  that 
most  of  the  inhabitants  of  Holland,  Zealand 
and  Flanders  were  inclined  to  the  reforma- 


f 


47 


tion.*  Even  in  France,  the  light  of  the  pure 
gospel  began  to  shine  ; for  Francis  I.  invited 
Melanchton  to  come  to  France,  that  he  might 
hear  him  on  the  subject  of  the  matters  in  dis- 
pute. In  Scotland  Luther’s  principles  were 
introduced  by  several  Scotch  divines,  who 
had  travelled  through  Germany,  and  become 
acquainted  with  Luther  and  Melanchton  at 
Wittenberg,  and  who  on  their  return  preach- 
ed his  doctrine  in  their  native  country.  A- 
mong  them  was  the  learned  Patrick  Hamil- 
ton, who,  however,  with  several  others,  was 
burned.  Even  in  Hungary,  Transylvania 
and  Poland,  the  work  of  the  reformation  was 
.introduced.  Some  merchants  had  brought 
several  of  Luther’s  books  from  Leipsig,  by 
reading  of  which  their  eyes  were  opened. — 
In  consequence  of  this  several  young  gentle- 
men went  from  thence  to  Wittenberg  to  stu- 
dy divinity,  and  after  their  return  preached 
the  faith  in  Christ  with  the  greatest  success, 
so  that  popery  in  many  places  was  reduced  to 
the  lowest  ebb; 

In  such  a surprising  manner  did  the  refor- 

* Priestly’s  Church  History  vol.  v 


48 


mation  of  Luther  spread  throughout  Europe, 
Many  however  were  the  naore  violently  op- 
posed to  it.  Ferdinand,  archduke  of  Aus- 
tria, the  em per or’s  brother,  promulgated  a se- 
vere edict  against  the  translation  of  the  scrip- 
tures, and  forbade  ail  the  subjects  of  his  im- 
perial majesty  to  possess  any  copies  of  it,  or 
of  Luther’s  ether  works  ; however,  the  more 
they  were  forbidden,  the  more  they  were  read. 

1 

In  the  j'ear  1524,  Erasmus  the  most  learn- 
ed man  among  the  Roman  catholics,  instiga- 
ted by  the  pope,  began  to  write  against  Lu- 
ther. Bis  book  w7as  entitled,  “Conference 
concerning  free  will.”  Luther  answered 
him  rather  harshly  in  a work  entitled  “ De 
servo  arbitrio.”  It  is  from  this  work  of  Lu- 
ther, that  some  have  concluded,  that  Luther 
believed  an  absolute  predestination  ; but,  in 
his  later  writings,  he  plainly  shows  that  his 
expressions  were  misconstrued,  and  that  he 
only  believed  a conditional  decree,  or  in  oth- 
er words  a predestination  of  characters  and 
not  of  persons. 


■ It  was  also  in  this  year,  that  Caristadt  and 
Zwingle  caused  some  disturbances  with  res- 
pect to  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord’s  supper  ; 
thev  contended  that  bread  and  wine  were  on  • 
]y  signs  or  tokens,  to  put  us  in  mind  of 
Christ’s  sufferings  and  death,  and  the  bene- 
fits  arising  from  them  ; and  that  nothing  was 
given  or  received  in  the  Lord’s  supper  : but 
Luther  insisted,  that  agreeably  to  the  nature 
of  a sacrament,  something  must  really  be  of- 
fered and  received,  and  that  there  was  really  a 
sacramental  partaking  of  the  body  and  blood 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  division  con- 
tributed much  to  retard  the  progress  of  the 
reformation. 

About  this  time,  Luther  threw  off  the  mo- 
nastic habit,  and  married  Catharine  de  Bore, 
who  had  been  a nun.  “ I took  a wife,”  said 
he,  “ because  I believe  marriage  is  expressly 
commanded  by  God,  and  because  I do  not 
wish  to  retain  any  thing  of  my  former  popish 
life.”  Luther  found  himself  extremely  happy 
in  this  new  state,  especially  after  his  wife,* 
whom  he  fondly  loved,  and  usually  called  iiis 
rib  Katy,  had  brought  him  a son, 

E 


1 he  elector  of  Saxony*  Frederick  the  wise, 
%vho  had  hitherto  protected  Luther,  died  on 
the  3d  of  May,  1525.  However,  his  loss  was 
not  so  much  felt,  because  his  brother  John, 
who  succeeded  him,  was  more  zealous  and 
determined  in  the  cause  of  the  reformation. 
Soon  after  his  accession  to  the  electorship,  he 
ordered  a body  of  laws,  relating  to  the  form 
of  ecclesia  tical  government,  the  method  of 
public  worship,  the  rank,  offices  and  reve- 
nues of  the  priesthood,  Ike.  to  be  drawn  up 
by  Luther  and  Melanchton,  which  he  after- 
wards promulgated  throughout  his  domin- 
ions ; and  this  example  was  followed  by  all 
the  other  princes  and  states  of  Germany,  who 
had  renounced  the  papal  supremacy  arid  ju- 
risdiction. According  to  these  new  regula- 
tions, all  useless  ceremonies  were  abolished  ; 
the  bishops  lost  their  great  powers  ; the 
prayers  and  the  scriptures  were  to  be  read 
in  the  language  of  the  country  ; and  the  gos- 
pel was  to  be  preached  'in  a plain  and  intelli- 
gible manner. 

In  the  year  1529,  a diet  was  held  at  Spires, 
the  express  purpose  of  taking  into  con- 


sideration  the  state  of  religion.  In  that  diet, 
the  archduke  Ferdinand  presided,  and  had 
the  address  to  procure  a majority, to  approve  a 
decree,  which  declared  it  unlawful,  to  intro- 
duce any  change  in  the  doctrine,  discipline 
or  worship  of  the  established  religion,  before 
the  determination  of  a general  council  was 
known.  This  decree  was  very  displeasing  to 
the  elector  of  Saxony  and  other  protestant 
princes,  as  well  as  to  the  deputies  of  fourteen 
imperial  cities,  who  entered  their  solemn  pro- 
test against  it,  and  appealed  to  the  emperor, 
and  a future  council.  This  was  done  on  the 
19th  of  April,  and  on  this  account  they  were 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  Protestants.— = 
When  the  protest  was  laid  before  the  empe- 
ror, he  was  much  displeased,  and  said  he  was 
determined  to  end  this  religious  dispute,  and 
would  therefore  call  together  a general  diet 
at  Augsburg,  At  the  same  time  he  demand- 
ed, that  the  protestants  should  prepare  a writ- 
ten explication  of  their  religious  system,  and 
an  explicit  avowal  of  the  several  points,  in 
which  they  differed  from  the  church  of  Rome* 
Luther  drew  up  17  articles,  which  he  deliv- 
ered to  the  elector  at  Torgau*.  oa  which  ac«- 


5% 


count  they  were  called  the  articles  of  Torgau. 
Some  thought  that  they  were  not  sufficiently 
plain,  and  too  pointed  ; and  Melanchton  was 
therefore  desired  to  give  an  account  of 
the  same,  in  terms  as  little  offensive  as  possi- 
ble to  their  opponents.  It  was  however  giv- 
en to  Luther  for  examination  and  correction, 
and  he  approved  of  it.  Such  was  the  origin 
of  the  creed,  celebrated  in  history,  as  the  con- 
fession of  Augsburg,  and  sometimes  called 
the  Augustan  confession.* 

To  unite  the  two  protestant  parties,  it  was 
thought  necessary,  that  Luther  and  Zwingle, 
(by  some  called  Zwingiius,)  with  some  of 
their  followers,  should  have  a conference,  and 
endeavor  to  settle  their  disputes,  so  that  they 
might  act  as  one  body,  and  not  hurt  the  cause 
of  the  reformation  by  a disunion.  They  ac- 
cordingly met  in  the  year  1529  at  Marburg  ; 
he  members  present  were,  Luther,  Melanch- 
ton, Jonas,  Osiander,  Brentius  and  Agricola, 
of  the  one  side,  and  Zwingle,  Oecolampad, 
Bucer  and  Hedio,  of  the  other.  The  confer- 

* Augusta  being  the  Latin  name  of  the  city  of  Augs 
hurg. 


enCe  lasted  several  days,  and  after  delibera- 
ting-, they  drew  up  fourteen  articles,  in  whijgja 
they  unanimously  agreed,  except  "as  to  me^ 
Lord’s  supper,  but  even  this  article  was  so^K 
worded,  that  both  parties  signed  the  paper. — • 
Had  they  now  remained  united,  and  appeared 
in  one  body'  at  the  diet  or  congress  of  Augs- 
burg, it  certainly  would  have  had  great  weight 
with  that  body  ; but  Zwingle  and  his  col- 
leagues drew  up  a confession  of  their  own, 
ahd  presented  it  to  the  diet.  Although  this 
confession  of  theirs  was  not  publicly  read, 
yet  it  was  used  as  a powerful  argument  a- 
gainst  the  cause  of  the  reformation,  and  it 
was  believed  by  the  Roman  catholics,  that 
the  protestants  would  easily  be  brought  to 
subjection,  as  they  were  divided  among  them- 
selves. 


It  was  on  the  25th  of  June  1530  when  the 
confession  of  the  Lutheran  body  was  deliver- 
ed to;  the  diet  of  Augsburg.  Luther  himself 
was  not  present.  The  elector  had  taken  him. 
as  far  as  the  city  of  Coburg,  and  left  him  there, 
so  as  to  be  near  at  hand,  in  order  to  obtain 
advice  from  him  should  it  be  necessary  : but 
li  2 


Melanchton  accompanied  him  to  Augsburg-; 
Ske  confession,  which  was  presented  to  the?' 
|cfet,  was  read  by  the  Saxon  chancellor,  Chris  - 
via:)  Bayer,  both  in  the  German  and  Latin  lan- 
guages,  and  was  signed  by  five  princes  and 
the  councils  of  several  imperial  cities.  It 
contained  twenty-eight  articles  ; twenty-one 
of  which,  represent  the  opinions  of  the  protes- 
tants,  and  the  other  seven  point  out  the  er- 
rors and  abuses  that  occasioned  their  separa- 
tion from  the  church  of  Rome,  A refutation 
of  this  confession  was  undertaken  by  Faber, 
Eck  and  Cochloeus,  which  was  publicly  read 
at  the  diet.  The  protestants  requested  a co- 
py of  this  refutation,  that  they  might  have  an 
opportunity  of  showing  its  weakness  ; but 
this  was  refused.  However  a copy  was  re- 
ceived some  time  after,  and  Melanchton  drew 
up  that  able  composition,  entitled  u Apology 
of  the  Augustan  confession.” 

At  this  diet  a decree  was  made,  that  the 
emperor  should  take  vigorous  measures  for 
asserting  the  authority  and  doctrines  of  the 
established  church,  and  enforce  the  submis- 
sion of  heretics — and  that,  if  the  princes  and 


cities,  who  had  separated  themselves,  should 
not  return  within  three  months  into  the  pak| 
of  the  papish  church,  and  discard  their  inno- 
vations, they  should  be  forced  to  do  it  by  the 
power  of  arms,  and  lose  all  their  power  and 
even  their  lives.  This  decree  was  consider- 
ed as  a prelude  to  the  most  violent  persecu- 
tions, and  convinced  the  protestants  that  the 
emperor  was  resolved  on  their  destruction; 
and  the  dread  of  the  calamities,  which  were 
ready  to  fall  on  the  protestant  church,  so  op- 
pressed the  spirit  of  Melanchton,  that  he  re- 
signed himself  to  a settled  melancholy.  Lu- 
ther however  was  not  disheartened,  but  used 
his  utmost  efforts  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of 
those  who  were  inclined  to  give  way  ; being 
assured  that  their  personal  safety,  as  well  as 
success,  depended  wholly  on  union.  In  a let  - 
ter to  Melanchton  and  other  supporters  of 
the  reformation,  who  were  at  Augsburg,  he 
says,  “ I am  heartily  tired  of  your  complaints, 
and  angry  at  your  great  cares  and  frettings. 
Our  own  unbelief  is  the  cause  of  all  these  un- 
necessary cares.  It  is  true  our  danger  is 
great,  but  it  is  also  true,  God  is  still  greater, 
and  jnighty  enough  to  defend  us.  If  our 


cause  be  unjust,  and  contrary  to  God’s  word* 
&t  us  give  it  up  at  once— let  us  make  a public 
recantation  ; but  if  it  be  just,  why  do  we 
make  God  a liar  in  his  promises,  in  which  he 
desires  us  to  be  of  good  cheer?  Just  as  if 
you' could  gain  any  thing  by  your  useless 
fretting  cares.  What  can  the  devil  do  more 
than  kill  us  ! As  to  myself,  I have  very  little 
anxiety  about  our  cause  ; whether  it  pro- 
ceeds from  ignorance  or  from  the  spirit,  the 
Lord  Jesus  knows,  i have  a better  and  & 
stronger  hope  than  I expected  to  have.’* 

In  a letter  to  the  elector  he  writes  thus  from 
Coburg:  “Be  of  good  cheer,  my  friend; 
don’t  let  your  anxious  cares  get  the  upper 
hand  of  you.  Christ  is  with  us,  and  he  will 
certainly  confess  you  before  the  throne  of  his 
Father,  as  you  are  confessing  him  before  the 
world.  I know  that  our  cause  is  just,  and 
that  God  will  help  us— what  we  have  done 
was  our  duty.  I am  continually  praying  for 
you  ; wouid  to  God  I could  do  more.” 

The  protestant  princes,  however,  now 
thought  it.  necessary  to  form,  an  alliance  and 


57 


confederacy,  so  as  to  be  able  to  defend  them- 
selves,  should  they  be  attacked.  They  me|^ 
at  Smalkalden,  where  they  resolved  to  de-  ^ 
fend  theix  religion  and  liberties  to  the  utmost 
of  their  power,  and  invited  the  king  of  Den- 
mark and  others,  to  join  in  the  confederacy, 
and  by  their  negoeiations,  secured  powerful 
protection  and  assistance,  in  case  of  necessity. 
This  confederation  of  the  Lutheran  princes, 
had  at  least  this  good  effect,  that  the  empe- 
ror did  not  think  it  advisable  to  enforce  the 
decree  of  Augsburg  ; and  through  the  medi- 
ation of  the  elector  Palatine  and  the  elector  of 
Mentz,  a treaty  was  concluded  at  Nurem- 
berg, by  which  the  protestant  princes  enga- 
ged to  assist  the  emperor,  with  all  their  for- 
ces, in  resisting  the  invasion  of  the  Turks  ; 
by  which  also,  it  was  stipulated,  that  univer- 
sal peace  should  be  established  in  Germany, 
until  the  meeting  of  a general  council,  and 
that  no  person  should  be  molested  on  account 
of  re  ligio  n. 

Luther  had  now  the  satisfaction  and  happi 
ness,  of  seeing  one  of  the  chief  obstacles  to  the 
undisguised  profession  of  his  opinions  re* 


s& 


moved,  and  the  pure,  evangelical  doctrine 
spreading  in  every  direction  ; but  he  had,  ne- 
vertheless, the  misfortune  to  find,  that  some 
persons,  who  had  more  zeal  than  knowledge, 
began  dangerous  innovations.  The  anabap- 
tists, who  had  already  in  1525,  created  cruel 
disturbances  in  Franconia  and  Swabia,  under 
the  direction  of  Thomas  Munzer  and  others, 
but  who  had  at  that  time  been  brought  under 
subjection,  now  again  made  their  appearance, 
and  created  disturbances  in  Thuringia,  Mora- 
via and  in  Switzerland,  under  the  cloak  of  be- 
ing reformers.  This  induced  Luther  to  write 
several  tracts  on  the  subject,  not  only  to  warn 
these  deluded  persons,  but  also  to  show,  that 
his  principles  were  not  the  cause  of  these 
disturbances.  However,  he  was  much  op- 
posed to  their  being  punished  on  account  of 
their  religious  tenets.  “ It  is  not  right,’  * 
said  he  in  a letter  to  a friend,  “ to  persecute, 
to  murder,  to  burn  and  destroy  such  poor 
people,  on  account  of  their  religious  tenets— 
we  should  let  everyone  believe  what  he  thinks 
right.  If  he  believes  wrong,  and  continues 
willfully  in  his  unbelieving  state,  he  has  pun- 
ishment enough  to  expect  in  hell  ; why  wii- 


you  also  punish  him  in  this  world  ? If 
however,  they  should  create  disturbances  in 
the  country,  and  resist  government,  then  let 
the  government  punish  them  for  their  disturb  - 
ances, but  not  on  account  of  their  faith.  With 
scripture  and  reason  we  should  try  to  convince 
them,  but  not  with  fire  and  sword.” 

You  ask  me,”  said  he  in  a letter  to  the 
council  of  Nuremberg,  “ whether  govern- 
ment hath  a right  to  execute  false  teachers  on 
account  of  their  doctrine  ? I answer,  I am  al- 
ways opposed  to  the  shedding  of  blood  for  the 
sake  of  religion,  and  I shall  never  give  my 
vote  to  persecute  those  whcm  we  suppose  to 
be  false  teachers.  It  is  sufficient  to  send  them 
out  of  the  country,  if  they  breed  disturban- 
ces ; but  as  long  as  they  do  not  breed  disturb- 
ances, let  us  bear  with  them.” 

In  the  year  1535,  the  pope  proposed  a coun- 
cil to  be  held  at  Mantua.  The  German  pro- 
test"Tits  strongly  objected  to  this,  and  insist- 
ed that  die  council  should  be  held  in  Germa- 
ny, according  to  the  promise  of  the  emperor. 
At  the  same  time,  that  they  might  not  he 


,60 


taken  by  surprise,  they  desired  Luther,  to 
draw  up  a summary  of  their  doctrine,  in  or- 
der to  present  it  to  the  assembled  bishops,  if 
it  should  be  required  of  them.  This  summa- 
ry, which  was  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
“ Articles  of  Smalkalden,’  from  the  place  at 
which  they  were  assembled,  is  generally  join- 
ed with  the  confession  of  the  Lutheran  church. 
This  council,  however,  was  not  held. 

It  was  in  the  year  1536,  when  Calvin,  a na- 
tive of  France,  came  to  Basle,  and  published 
his  institutions  of  the  Christian  religion.  Short- 
ly after  he  removed  to  Geneva,  where  he  for- 
med the  project  of  making  the  republic  of 
Geneva,  the  mother  and  seminary  of  all  the 
reformed  churches,  as  W ittenberg  was  of  the 
Lutheran.  Instead  of  the  system  adopted  by 
Zwingle,  with  regard  to  the  Lord’s  supper,  he 
substituted  another,  which  appeared  more 
conformable  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Lutheran 
church,  and  which  in  reality  differed  very  lit- 
tle from  it ; for  Calvin  acknowledged  a real, 
tho’  spiritual,  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sup- 
per. However,  he  added  a tenet,  of  a divine 
absolute  predestination  to  life  and  damnation, 


61 


as  it  had  been  maintained  by  one  Godshalk,  in. 
the  year  847;  as  also  a tenet  of  irresistable  grace; 
and  another,  of  the  impossibility  of  falling  out 
of  a state  of  grace.  These  doctrines  could  not 
but  enlarge  the  breach  between  the  proles- 
tants  ; for  the  Lutherans  had  declared  in  their 
confession  at  Augsburg,  that  Christ  had  of, 
fered  up  himself  a sacrifice  for  all  the  sins  of 
mankind,  and  that  therefore  all  might  be  sav- 
ed : They  had  also  rejected  the  doctrine  of 
others,  who  teach,  that  those  who  were  once 
justified,  could  never  lose  the  Holy  spirit  and 
be  lost — and  .in  many  of  their  writings,  they 
contended,  that  the  spirit  of  God  might  be  re- 
sisted, and  alas,  was  too  often  resisted. 

Luther,  however,  was  sensible  of  the  learn- 
ing and  piety,  and  good  intentions  of  Calvin, 
and  sent  his  salutation  to  him  by  Bucer,  and 
encouraged  him  to  go  on  in  the  work  of  re- 
formation. And  Calvin,  in  his  exposition  of 
Isaiah,  calls  Luther  the  prophet  of  Germany, 
and  the  man  of  God  ; and  wrote  to  him,  1545, 
in  the  following  words  : “ I would  to  God,  I 
could  fly  to  you,  and  enjoy  your  conversation, 
were  it  only  for  a few  hours  ; however,  what 

F 


is  not  given  us  in  this  life,  I hope  we  shall 
enjoy  in  the  kingdom  of  God.” 

In  the  year  1545,  the  council  of  Trent  be- 
gan. This  council  condemned  all  the  doc- 
trines of  the  protestants,  and  established  all 
the  abuses  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  resolv- 
ed to  force  the  protestants  to  renounce  their 
.doctrines.  This  induced  the  Smalkalden 
league  to  prepare  for  war,  against  the  empe- 
ror, in  their  own  defence.  Luther,  however, 
was  so  much  opposed  to  bloodshed  on  ac- 
count of  religion,  that  he  used  all  his  endea- 
vors to  persuade  the  protestant  princes  from 
it ; and  as  long  as  he  lived,  war  was  not  de- 
clared. 

On  the  18th  of  February,  1546,  he  died,  in 
the  63d  year  of  his  age.*  Soon  after,  the  war 

'*  The  circumstances  attending  the  death  of  so  re- 
markable a man,  should  not  be  forgotten  : His  last 
public  service  was  in  the  church,  where  he  was  seized 
with  a violent  infiamation  in  the  stomach..  His  natu- 
ral intrepidity  did  not  forsake  him,  and  his  last  con- 
versation was  about  the  happiness  reserved  fc  • the 
pious  in  a future  life.  He  prayed  fervently  for  him- 
self and  family,  but  especially  for  the  propagation  of 
the  gospel  f apd  admonished  those  standing  around 


began.  'The  emperor,  drew  together  his  for- 
ces near  Ingolstadt ; and  the  protestants,  un- 
der the  command  ci  the  elector  of  Saxony, 
and  the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  went  to  meet  him 
with  70,000  men.  In  the  mean  time,  however, 
Maurice,  duke  of  Saxcny,  fell  into  the  terri- 
tories of  the  elector,  who  was  now  under  the 
necessity  of  sending  back  some  troops  to  op- 
pose  him,  which  weakened*  his  army  and  caus- 
ed disturbances.  The  emperor  now  pursued 
the  protestant  army,  and  in  a battle  fought  at 
Muhlberg,  1547,  both  the  elector  and  the 
landgrave  were  captured,,  and  the  elector  was 
even  sentenced  to  suffer  death.  This  sentence 
was  not  executed,  but  he  was  deprived  of  his 
electorship,  which  Maurice  now  obtained,, 

his  bed,  to  pray  continually  for  the  cause  of  Christ ; 
after  commending  his  spirit  into  the  hands  of  his  Sa- 
viour, he  quietly  departed.  His  body  was  put  into  a 
leaden  coffin,  and  carried  with  funeral  pomp  to  the 
church  of  Eisleben,  where  Dr.  Jonas  preached  a ser- 
mon on  the  occasion.  The  elector  of  Saxony,  howe- 
ver, insisted  upon  his  body  being  brought  to  Wit- 
tenberg, which  was  accordingly  done,  and  he  was 
buried  there  with  greater  pomp  than  had  been  known 
to  have  accompanied  the  funeral  of  any  private  man. 
Princes,  earls,  nobles  and  students,  without  number, 
attended  the  procession  ; and  Melanchton  delivered  a 
funeral  discourse.  Melanchton’ s works  <§*  Cyclopedia* 


Some  time  after,  however,  Maurice,  observ- 
ing that  the  emperor  was  striving'  to  deprive 
the  Germans  of  all  their  liberties,  suddenly- 
brought  together  an  army,  and  attacked  the 
emperor  unexpectedly,  and  compelled  him  to 
grant  to  the  protestants  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion.  This  agreement  was  called 
the  treaty  of  Passau,  which  was  afterwards 
confirmed  by  the  general  peace  at  Augsburg, 
1555. 

About  this  time,  the  reformation  spread  ra- 
pidly in  England.  During  the  reign  of  Ed- 
ward VI,  several  learned  German  divines, 
were  called  over  to  England,  to  assist  in  re- 
gulating church  affairs  ; among  whom,  were 
Bucer  and  Phagius,  who  introduced  the  prim 
ciples  of  Calvin.  Mary,  succeeding  to  the 
throne,  after  the  death  of  Edward,  persecuted 
the  reformers,  and  re  -established  the  Roman 
catholic  religion.  After  her  death,  which  hap- 
pened in  1558,  Elizabeth  became  queen,  and 
the  reformation  was  introduced  with  the  great- 
est success.  But  some  of  her  subjects  inclin- 
ed to  Lutheranism,  and  others  more  to  Cal- 
vinism.. 


’The United  Netherlands  had  also  embraced 
Calvin’s  principles  ; but,  in  the  year  1591, 
Arminius,  a learned  and  pious  divine,  began 
to  express  his  doubts  concerning  the  doctrine 
of  Calvin  ; and,  upon  further  enquiry,  adopt? 
ed  sentiments  nearly  resembling  those  of  Lu= 
ther  for  he  maintained,  that  Jesus  Christ 
made  an  atonement  for  the  sins  of  all  man« 
kind— that  the  grace  of  God,  which  is  neces- 
sary to  salvation,  is  offered  to  all,  but  may  be 
resisted  -and  that  the  regenerate  may  lose 
true  justifying  faith,  and  fall  from  the  state  of 
grace,  and  die  in  their  sins.  These  doctrines, 
were  certainly  purely  Lutheran. f However, 
Arminius  and  his  followers,  were  much  per- 
secuted for  teaching  them  ; and  he  himself 
died  oppressed  with  grief  in  1609.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year,  his  followers  drew  up  an  humble 
petition,  entitled  their  “ Remonstrance,” 
which  they  addressed  to  the  states  of  Holland  , 
On  this  account,  they  were  called  Remon- 
strants. Afterthis.  their  tenets  gained  ground, 
and  were  adopted  by  several  persons  of  merit 
and  distinction.  An  appeal  was  now  made 

a See  Cyclopedia,  art.  Arminiams&i  & Araimu»?‘- 

t Mosheim’s  CJhurch  history. 

F a 


66 


to  a national  synod.  Accordingly  the  synod 
of  Dort  was  convened  by  order  of  the  states* 
general,  in  the  year  1618,  and  was  composed 
of  ecclesiastical  deputies  from  the  united  pro- 
vinces, and  from  the  reformed  churches  of 
England,  Scotland,  Hesse,  Bremen,  Switzer- 
land and  the  Palatinate.  At  this  council,  the 

7 « 

poor  Arminians  were  pronounced  guilty  of 
pestilential  errors,  and  condemned  as  corrup- 
ters of  the  true  religion.  In  consequence  of 
this  decision,  they  were  treated  with  great  se- 
verity : — they  were  deprived  of  all  their  posts 
and  employments — their  ministers  were  si- 
lenced and  their  congregations  suppressed. 
But  after  the  year  1625,  they  were  restored  to 
their  former  reputation  and  tranquillity  ; and 
since  the  time  of  archbishop  Laud,  they  pre- 
vailed much  in  England. 

Dr.  Jortin,  in  his  Dissert.  2,  page  3,  says  : 

“ In  England  about  the  time  of  the  synod  of 
Dort,  we  were  much  divided  in  our  opinions 
concerning  the  controverted  articles  ; but  our 
divines  have  taken  the  liberty  of  thinking  for 
themselves,  and  the  civil  government  not  in- 
terfering, it  has  come  to  pass  that  almost  all 


persons  here,  of  any  note  for  learning  and  a- 
bility,  have  bid  adieu  to  Calvinism,  and  sided 
with  the  Remonstrants.” 

The  protestants  had  generally  enjoyed  lib- 
erty of  conscience  since  the  peace  of  Augs- 
burg,  in  the  year  1555.  But  the  popish  gov- 
ernments were  continually  encroaching  up- 
on and  curtailing  their  rights,  until  the  year 
1618,  when  a very  bloody  war  began,  which 
lasted  thirty  years.  Through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  the  Swedes,  the  emperor  was  forc- 
ed to  make  peace,  and  to  grant  to  the  protest- 
ants perfect  religious  liberty,  in  the  year  1648, 
which  liberty,  thank  God,  they  still  possess. 

Since  the  time  of  Luther,  the  church  has 
been  blessed  with  several  remarkable  revi- 
vals. John  Arndt,  who  was  born  ten  years 
after  the  death  of  Luther,  and  who  was  a su~ 
perintendant  in  the  electorate  of  Hanover,  was 
instrumental  in  one  of  these  revivals.  His 
works  are  filled  with  the  spirit  of  primitive 
Christianity.  One  of  them  entitled  “ true 
Christianity”  has  been  translated  into  most 


languages,  and  has  contributed  greatly  to  ad- 
vance the  kingdom  of  the  Redeemer  ; for 
there  are  very  few  Lutheran  families  without 
it.  A new  epoch  in  favor  of  experimental 
religion,  also  began  under  Philip  Jacob  Spe- 
ner,  in  the  17th  century,  when  a new  zeal  and 
life  was  infused  into  the  different  colleges  and 
songregations.  The  universities  of  Jena  and 
of  Halle  were  particularly  visited  by  the 
mighty  work  of  the  spirit  of  grace,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  last  century,  so  that  the  great- 
er  part  of  the  students  were  enlightened  and 
truly  converted.  In  the  university  of  Halle-, 
August  Herman  Franke  was  peculiarly  noti- 
ced for  his  piety  and  zeal  in  the  cause  of  Christ. 
He  was  the  founder  of  the  celebrated  Orphaa- 
house  at  Halle,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the 
largest  in  the  world,  and  which  has  sent  out 
many  hundreds  of  pious,  zealous  and  learn- 
ed labourers  into  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord, 
to  different  parts  of  the  world. 


It  is  also  to  be  observed,  that  the  Lutheran: 
church  has  always  been  engaged  in  propaga- 
ting the  gospel  among  the  heathens.  Soon 
after  thejreformation,  the  attempt  was  made, 


but  little  could  be  done,  because  the  protes- 
tants  generally  were  persecuted,  and  had  e- 
nough  to  do  among  themselves.  \bout  the 
year  1600,  however,  we  find  that  missiona- 
ries  were  sent  into  Lapland,  and,  after  many 
difficulties,  the  scriptures  were  translated  in- 
to the  native  language.  In  1640  they  had  es- 
tablished thirteen  Christian  congregations,  a- 
mong  the  heathens  of  that  country.  Mission- 
aries were  also  sent  to  Greenland  to  chris- 
tianize the  benighted  inhabitants.  Hans  E * 
gede  nas  the  first,  who  undertook  the  ardu- 
ous task,  and  was  shortly  after  assisted  by 
Messrs  Topp,  Lange,  Milzoug,  Paul  Egede 
Ohnsorg,  Bing,  &c>  Many  heathens  were 
converted  to  Christianity,  congregations  form  • 
ed  and  several  colonies  established.  But 
their  greatest  mission  was  that  to  India,  es- 
tablished by  the  Royal  College  of  Copenha- 
gen, and  theOrphan’s  house  of  Halle.  Ziegen- 
balk  andPluetshau,  who  had  studied  at  Halle, 
were  the  first,  who  offered  themselves  for  this 
laudable  work,  and  arrived  at  Trankenbar  in 
the  year  1706.  A few  years  after  Gruend- 
ler,  Boring  and  Jordan  were  sent  to  assist 
them.  The  Bible  was  translated  into  several 


native  languages,  aftd  many  Christian  congre- 
gations were  established  by  their  exertions. 
So  great  was  the  success  of  these  missionaries, 
that  the  English  society  for  promoting  Chris- 
tian knowledge  was  induced  to  offer  their  as- 
sistance and  support.  Upwards  of  fifty- 
learned  and  zealous  men,  chiefly  from  the  u- 
niversity  of  Halle,  have  been  laboring  among 
the  Hindoo  nations,  during  the  last  century, 
among  whom  Jcenike,  Shulze,  Gericke, 
Swartz,  Kohlhoff  and  Pohle  are  particularly 
to  be  noticed  ; and  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
heathens  have  been  brought,  by  their  labors, 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  as  it  is  in  Je- 
sus. The  Rev.  Dr.  Buchanan,  who  visited 
some  of  these  congregations,  in  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  has  given  us  a very  pleasing 
account  of  the  present  state  and  progress  od 
Christianity  in  the  different  provinces  of  India, 
in  his  work,  entitled  “ Christian  researches 
in  Asia,”  to  which  the  author  refers  those 
readers,  who  would  wish  to  become  more  ac- 
quainted with  the  subject. 


The  Lutheran  chnrch  is  now  the  establish- 
ed church  in  the  kingdoms  of  - Denmark, 


Sweden,  Prussia,  Saxony,  Wurtemberg  and 
Baden — in  the  electorates  of  Bradenburg, 
Hanover,  &c. — in  many  dukedoms  and  prin- 
cipalities, as  Brunswick,  Wolfenbuettle, 
Hessedarmstadt,  &c. — in  many  imperial  ci- 
ties, as  Frankfurt,  Augsburg,  Nurnberg, 
&c.  and  there  are  many  congregations  of 
this  confession  in  Poland,  Russia,  Hungary, 
England,  Holland,  East-Indies  and  Ameri- 
ca. In  the  United  States  there  are  three  sy- 
nods or  ministeriums  : the  synod  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  adjoining  states  ; the  synod  of 
New- York  and  the  Eastern  states  ; and  the 
synod  of  Carolina  and  the  Southern  states. 
In  the  last  twelve  years,  the  number  of  con- 
gregations has  much  increased.  Missiona- 
ries were  yearly  sent  out  to  visit,  and  collect 
the  scattered  and  deserted  members,  and  to 
establish  congregations  ; and  in  the  state  of 
Ohio  alone,  upwards  ©f  eighty  congregations 
have  been  formed.  The  whole  number  of 
Lutheran  congregations  in  the  United  States, 
at  present,  is  supposed  to  be  about  six  hun- 
dred and  fifty. 

It  is  finally  considered  a peculiar  blessing 
ef  this  church,  that  it  has  not  been  distracte4 


by  non-conformity.  Some  authors  have  in- 
deed said,  that  upwards  of  twenty  sects  have 
arisen  from  it ; but  this  assertion  is  certainly 
not  founded  in  history,  unless  we  count  the 
episcopalians,  reformed,  presbytsrians,  bap- 
tists, menonists,  and  all  other  protestant 
churches  among  the  number.  Even  the  uni- 
ted brethren  (Moravians)  cannot  be  conside- 
red as  arising  from  it  ; for  they  are  a branch 
of  the  Hussitic  Bohemian  church,  which 
Count  Zinzendorf  revived  in  Germany,  1727, 
when  he  established  the  first  congregation  at 
Herrnhut,  and  invited  the  persecuted  Bohe- 
mians to  come  and  settle  in  his  domains. 
Some  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  have  indeed 
increased  their  number,  card  the  Lutherans 
consider,  esteem  and  love  them,  as  their 
brethren,  because  they  agree  with  them  in 
point  of  doctrine. 

• 

CONCLUSION. 

I cannot  conclude  this  history  of  the  Lu- 
theran church,  without  referring  to  the  testi- 
monies of  the  learned  and  wise,  respecting 
the  character  of  Luther. 


Luther,  says  a writer  in  the  Cyclopedia, 
{art.  Luther)  introduced  not  only  into  Ger- 
many, but  into  the  world,  a new  and  most 
important  era,  and  his  name  can  never  be  for- 
got en,.  while  any  thing  of  principle  remains  * 
that  is  deserving  of  remembrance  ; for  the 
grand  and  leading  doctrine  of  Lutheranism,, 
is  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  matters 
of  religion.  To  this  he  was  always  ready  to 
devote  his  talents  and  his  life  ; and,  says  the 
biographer  of  Leo  X,  “the  great  and  imper- 
ishable merit  of  the  reformer,  consists  in  his 
having  demonstrated  it,  by  such  arguments, 
as  neither  the  efforts  of  his  adversaries,  nor 
his  own  subsequent  conduct,  have  been  able 
to  confute  or  invalidate.” 

Dr.  Robertson,  has  the  following  observa- 
tions, in  his  history  of  Charles  V : “ Lu- 
ther was  raised  up  by  Providence,  to  be  the 
author  of  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  inter- 
esting revolutions  in  history.  Zeal  for  what 
he  regarded  as  truth,  undaunted  intrepidity 
to  maintain  his  system,  abilities  both  natu- 
ral and  acquiredto  defend  his  principles,  and 
unwearied  industry  in  propagating  them,  sr-3 
Gr 


virtues  which  shine  conspicuously  in  every 
part  of  his  behaviour.  To  these  may  be  ad- 
ded,  such  purity  and  even  austerity  of  man- 
ners, as  became  a reformer  ; such  sanctity  of 
life,  as  suited  the  doctrine  which  he  deliver- 
ed, and  such  perfect  disinterestedness,  as  af- 
fords no  slight  presumption  of  his  sincerity. 
Superior  to  all  selfish  considerations,  a stran- 
ger to  all  the  elegancies  of  life, and  despising  its 
pleasures,  he  left  the  honors  and  emoluments 
of  the  church  to  his  disciples,  remaining  sat- 
isfied himself  in  his  original  state  of  profes- 
sor of  the  university,  and  pastor  of  the  town 
of  Wittenberg.  His  extraordinary  qualities 
were  allayed  with  no  inconsiderable  mixture 
of  human  passions. — However,,  to  rouse  man- 
kind, when  sunk  in  ignorance  and  supersti- 
tion, and  to  encounter  the  rage  of  bigotry, 
armed  with  power,  required  the  utmost  vehe- 
mence of  zeal,  as  well  as  a temper  daring  to 
excess.  A gentle  call  would  neither  have 
reached,  nor  have  excited  those,  to  whom  it 
must  have  been  addressed.  A spirit  less 
vigorous  than  Luther’s,  would  have  shrunk 
back  from  dangers,  which  he  braved  and  sur= 
mounted. 


" Martin  Luther’s  life,”  says  bishop  After- 
burv,  “ was  a continual  warfare  ; he  was  en- 
gaged against  die  united  forces  of  the  papal 
world,  and  he  stood  the  shock  of  them  brave- 
ly, both  with  courage  and  success.  He  was 
certainly  a man  of  high  endowments  of  mind 
and  great  virtues  ; he  had  a vast  understanding, 
which  raised  him  to  a pitch  of  learning  un- 
known to  the  age  in  which  he  lived  ; his 
.knowledge  in  scripture  was  admirable,  his 
' elocution  manly,  and  his  way  of  reasoning 
forcible  ; and  his  conduct  before  the  di- 
et of  Worms,  was  such  as  might  have  be- 
come the  days  of  the  apostles.”  Cyclopedia , 

Gibbon,  speaking  of  the  effects  produced 
by  the  exertions  of  Luther  and  h ao  C 0 1 C XX  i Jj  0 j 
raries,  says  : “ The  philosopher  must  own 
his  obligations  to  these  fearless  enthusiasts  ; 
by  their  hands  he  lofty  fabric  of  superstition, 
from  the  abuse  of  indulgences  to  the  inter- 
cession of  the  Virgin,  has  been  levelled  with 
the  ground  ; myriads  of  both  sexes  of  the 
monastic  profession,  were  restored  to  liberty 
and  the  labours  of  social  life  ; the  chain  of 
authority  was  broken,  which  restrains  the 


bigot  from  thinking  as  he  pleases,  and  the 
slave  from  speaking  as  he  thinks.  The 
pope,  fathers  and  councils  were  no  longer 
the  supreme  and  infallible  judges  of  the 
world,  and  each  Christian  was  taught  to  ac- 
knowledge no  law  but  the  scriptures,  no  in  • 
terpreter  but  his  own  conscience.”  Cyclo- 
pedia. 

Villers,  a modern  author,  on  the  spirit  and, 
influence  of  the  reformation,  says,  “ The  zeal, 
intrepidity  and  persevering  exertions  of  that 
illustrious,  divine  and  able  champion  for 
truth,  Dr.  Martin  Luther,  were  the  means, 
under  the  miraculous  superintendance  of  di- 
vine providence,  of  emancipating  one  part  of 
Europe  from  the  dominion  of  ignorance  and 
superstition,  of  mitigating  the  rigors  of  the 
papal  yoke  in  the  other,  and  of  producing 
the  greatest  and  most  beneficial  revolution  in 
the  moral  sentiments  of  mankind,  that  has 
taken  place  since  the  promulgation  of  Chris- 
tianity.” 

Zwingle  says  of  Luther  “ As  far  as  I can 
judge,  Luther  is  certainly  a brave  warrior  of 
Christ,  who  seeks  with  such  diligence  in 


scripture,  which  no  one  has  shown  these  thou* 
sand  years  past.  I care  not,  whether  the  pa* 
pists  call  me  an  heretic  or  not,  as  they  call 
Luther  ; I say  this,  that  since  the  beginning 
of  popery,  no  man  has  withstood  the  pope  so 
resolutely  and  inflexibly  as  Luther.  His  ex* 
planations  of  the  scriptures  are  so  well  found- 
ed, that  no  one  can  refute  them.”  Milner'% 
Church  History . 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Buchanan,  in  a sermon, 
preached  before  the  university  of  Cambridge 
July  1st  1810,  gives  the  following  testimony 
of  the  ref  ormation,  and  of  Luther  : “ The  se- 
cond era  oflight  is  the  reformation.  In  the 
midst  of  spiritual  darkness,  while  men  were 
sitting  a second  time'in  the  region  and  shadow 
of  death,  the  daysprirg  from  on  high  visited 
them.  This  has  been  accounted  by  some  air 
epoch  in  the  church,  not  less  remarkable  than, 
that,  of  the  first  promulgation  of  the  gospel. 
And  although  it  is  now  much  out  of  view  in 
the  minds  of  many  ; although  infidelity 
wouid  obscure  its  glory,  and  the  withered 
hand  hath  bf-mL Sifted  up  against  him  that 
healed  it?  the  reformation  will  ever  be  consul* 
G 2 


?8 


ered  as  a great  event  in  the  divine  dispensa- 
tion, by  all  true  members  of  the  church  of 
Christ,  to  the  end  of  time. 

As  in  the  first  age,  the  preaching  of  the  a= 
postlc  Paul  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  the 
conversion  of  men  ; so,  at  this  second  era, 
the  ministry  of  Luther  was  principally  hon- 
ored of  God,  for  that  purpose.  Luther  was 
ordained  to  be  the  great  instrument  of  light  ? 
and  he,  like  WicklifF,  gave  the  holy  scrip- 
4ures  to  his  nation  in  their  own  tongue,” 


Part  II 


THE  DOCTRINE 

OF  THE 

Evangelical  Lutheran  Church „ 

CONTAINING 

%tyz  Augsburg  Confel&ott 

with  m 

EXPLANATORY  NOTES  & REMARKS. 


.«  Prove  all  things  : hold  fast  that  which  is  good.” 

Paul — 1 Thess.  v.  21 


The  DOCTRINE,  &c. 


PRELIMINARY  OBSERVATIONS. 

* • 

1.  THE  Lutheran  tenets  must  not  be  ta- 
ken  from  the  works  of  Luther,  written  be- 
fore the  year  1530;  for  before  That  time  he 
held  several  ehictrines,  which  he  afterwards 
rejected.  He  had  been  an  Augustine  monk, 
and  had  imbibed  principles  laid  down  in  the 
works  of  Augustinus  ; and  as  a violent  pa- 
pist, he  was  tenacious  of  many  doctrines  and 
customs  ' i hich  he  afterwards  renounced.  ‘‘  1 
entreat  you,5’  says  he,  “ in  an  address  written 
near  the  close  of  his  life  ; — “ I entreat  you 
to  read*  my  writings  with  cool  consideration, 
and  even  with  much  pity.  I wish  you  to 
know,  that  when  I began  the  affair  of  indul- 
gences, 1 was  a monk  and  a most  mad  papist* 


84 


So  intoxicated  was  I,  and  immersed  in  papal 
dogmas,  that  I would  have  been  ready  to  as- 
sist in  murdering  any  person,  who  should 
have  uttered  a syllable  against  the  pope  ; and 
I was  always  earnest  in  defending  doctrines,, 
which  1 professed.  I went  seriously  to. work 
as  one  who  had  a horrible  dread  of  the  day  of 
judgment,  and  who,  from  his  inmost  soul, 
was  anxious  for  salvation.  You  will  find , 
therefore,  in  my  earlier  writings , many  things f 
of  which  I do  not  now  approve.  This,  may 
be  called  inconsistency  by  my  slanderers,  but 
you,  my  pious  reader,  will  have’the  kindness 
to  make  some  allowance  on  account  of  the 
times  and  tny  own  inexperienc^  I stood  ab« 
solutely  alone  at  first,  and  certainly  was  very- 
unfit  to  undertake  matters  of  such  vast  im- 
portance. It  was  by  accident,  and  not  wil- 
lingly, nor  by  design,  that  I fell  into  those  vi- 
olent disputes.  God  is  my  witness.’5  The 
Lutheran  doctrines  must  therefore  be  taken 
only  from  the  latter  writings  of  Luther. — - 
Their  symbolical  books  are,  “ The  Augs- 
burg Confession,  the  Apology  of  the  confes- 
sion, the  short  and  larger  Catechism,  and  the 
Smalkalden  articles.  See  Luther’s  works 
and  Cyclopedia , art.  Luther . 


2.  Luther  was  very  much  opposed  to  his 
followers  being  called  Lutheran,  and  so  were 
the  supporters  of  his  cause.  In  an  address 
of  the  elector  of  Saxony  and  others,  to  the 
emperor,  we  find  the  following  words  : “ The ' 


doctrines  of  Luther  wre  only  receive  as  far  as 
they  agree  with  the  word  of  God.  On  this 
word  we  ground  ourselves,  and  not  on  the 
person  or  doctrines  of  a man,  let  him  be  Lu- 
ther or  any  other  person  ; because  all  men 
may  err.  We  will  therefore  be  judged  on- 
ly by  the  word  of  God.”  The  name  of  Lur 
theran  was  gi^en  to  them  by  their  opponents  ; 
the  name  by  which  they  desired  to  be  denom- 
inated is,  “*fhe  Evangelical  Church. » 


3.  The  great  and  leading  principle  of  the 
Lutheran  church,  says  Mosheim  (Eccl.  hist, 
vol.  %)  is,  that  the  holy  scriptures  are  the  on- 
ly source,  from  whence  we  are  to  draw  our 
religious  sentiments,  whether  they  relate  to 
faith  or  practice.  There  are,  indeed,  several 
formularies  adopted  by  the  church,  which 
Contain  the  principal  points  of  its  doctrine  ; 
but  the  books,  containing  these  formularies, 
have  no  authority  beyond  what  they  derive 


8S 


from  the  scriptures,  whose  sense  and  mean- 
ing they  are  designed  to  coirvey  ; nor  are  the 
Lutheran  doctors  permitted  to  interpret  or 
explain  these  books,  so  as  to  draw  from 
thence  any  propositions,  that  are  inconsistent 
with  the  express  declarations  of  God. 

« 4.  One  of  the  fundamental  maxims  of 
this  church,  says  the  same  author,  is,  that 
-Christians  are  accountable  to  God  alone-  for 
their  religious  principles,  and  that  no  indi- 
vidual could  be  justly  punished  by  magis- 
trates for  his  erroneous  principles,  as  long  as 
he  conducted  himself  like  a virtuous  and  o- 
bedient  subject,  and  made  no  attempt  to  dis- 
turb the  peace  and  order  of  civil  society. 

5.  The  Augsburg  confession  contains 
twenty-eight  chapters  or  articles.  Some  of 
them  however  only  point  out  the  errors  and 
abuses,  that  occasioned  their  separation  from 
the  church  of  Rome.  Presuming  that  such 
articles  would  be  of  little  use  to  Christians  of 
our  days,  we  have  contented  ourselves  with 
translating  and  making  remarks  on  such  only 


84 


as  me  esteemed  essential  and  necessary  to  sal- 
vation. And  as  there  are  some  articles,  not 
at  all  mentioned  in  the  confession,  and  only 
to  be  found  in  the  other  symbolical  books,  it 
was  considered  necessary  also  to  lay  them  be 
fore  the  reader. 

6.  Luther  was  sensible  of  the  defects  of 
the  reformation.  “ Many  things,'5  said  he, 
“ are  yet  to  be  made  better.  We  have  only 
made  the  beginning,  and  we  have  retained 
some  customs,  for  fear  of  giving  offence  to 
weak  minds.  They  that  come  after  us,  we 
hope,  will  be  enabled,  by  the  spirit  of  God, 
to  do  more.55  We  therefore  find,  that  the  Lu- 
theran church,  since  that  time,  has  given  up 
several  customs  and  ceremonies,  which  were 
-existing  at  the  time  of  the  reformation. 


85 


ARTICLE  I 

OF  GOD. 

In  the  first  place,  we  unanimously  teach 
and  hold,  agreeably  to  the  decree  of  the  coun- 
cil of  Nice,  that  there  is  one  only  Divine  Be- 
ing, who  is  called,  and  truly  is  God.;  but 
that  there  are  three  persons  in  this  only  Di- 
vine Being — equally  powerful,  equally  eter- 
nal-—God  the  Father,  God  the  Son  and  God 
the  Holy  Ghost ; all  three  one  Divine  Being, 
eternal,  without  parts,  without  end — of  un- 
measurable power,  wisdom  and  goodness— 
the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  all  things,  visible 
and  invisible. 

NOTES. 

1.  In  this  article,  Luther  and  Melanchton  use  the 
words  which  are  found  in  the  Nicean  decree.  They 
wished  to  deviate  as  little  as  possible  from  the  old  re- 
ceived and  established  expressions.  From  the  other 
writings  of  the  Lutheran  divines,  we  find  that  they  ex- 
pressed themselves  thus  : “ There  is  but  one  God, 
who  is  called  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost. 

See  Ordo  Salutis  in  the  Lutheran  Catechism , 

H 


86 


2.  That  this  article  contains  something  above  snu 
comprehension,  is  granted  ; but  this  does  not  prove 
that  it  is  contrary  to  reason.  Even  in  temporal  mat- 
ters, there  are  many  things  above  our  comprehension, 
which  yet  agree  with  reason  and  experience.  Indeed, 
we  can  fully  comprehend  but  very  little  of  the  things 
which  we  daily  see.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know,  that 
God  has  revealed  himself  thus  to  mankind,  and  he 
certainly  knows  best,  how  and  what  he  is.  and  it  i® 
our  duty  to  believe  him. 


ARTICLE  II. 

OF  ORIGINAL,  OR  INHERITED  SIN. 

We  teach,  that  after  the  fall  of  Adam,  all 
men,  who  are  naturally  born,  are  conceived 
and  born  in  sin  ; that  is,  that  they  are  all,  from 
their  infancy,  full  of  bad  desires  and  disposi- 
tions, and  can  have  no  true  fear  of  God,  nor 
faith  in  God,  by  nature  ; and  that  this  innate 
disease  and  inherited  sin,  is  really  to  be  ac- 
counted sin,  and  condemneth  all,  who  are  not 
born  again  of  water  and  the  Holy  Ghost. 


87 


The  Lutheran  catechism,  gives  the  follow- 
ing definition  : — Original  sin  consists  in  a 
propensity  to  things  forbidden  by  the  law  of 
God  and  an  aversion  to  his  'will. 

In  the  Apology  of  the  Confession,  we  find 
the  following  definition  : — Original  sin  con- 
sists in  a want  of  the  first  holiness  and  righ- 
teousness in  paradise. 

NOTES. 

1.  The  last  clause  in  the  above  article,  contained 
fin  the  words,  “ condemneth  all,”  &c.  is  explained 

by  some,  thus  : If  we  suffer  our  depraved  nature  to 
have  the  rule  over  us,  it  will  certainly  lead  us  to  ruin 
and  condemnation. 

2.  Dr.  Michaelis,  has  the  following  in  his  Comp 
Theol.  Dogm. : Original  sin,  or  the  innate  moral  dis- 
ease, which  every  person  feels, and  on  account  of  which 
he  sighs,  consists  in  a preponderance  of  sensuality 
over  reason.  (Uebergewicht  der  Sinnlichkeit  fiber 
die  vernunft)  Sensual  things  weigh  move  with  us 
than  the  things  of  reason.  Onr  scale,  if  I may  so 
speak, ?s  false,  much  like  one  which  has., one  arm  too 
long , and  the  other  too  short.  Hence  our  propensity 
tc  evil  is  much  stronger  than  to  that  which  is  good- 


The  consequences  of  the  fall  of  Adam  were 
1.  the  moral  disease,  which  we  call,  in  the  language 
of  theology,  original  sin,  or  innate  depravity  of  na- 
ture ; and  2.  the  loss  of  immortality.  Thus  far  is  the 
sin  of  Adam  imputed  to  us.  We  have,  in  consequence 
of  it,  an  innate  natural  depravity,  and  we  are  all  lia- 
ble to  death- — but  further,  the  fall  of  Adam  is  not  im- 
puted to  us. 

3.  Dr.  Kunze,  a learned  modern  divine  of  the  Lu- 
theran church,  has  the  following  observations  in  his 
History  of  the  Christian  religion  : — To  derive  original 
sin  from  the  first  man’s  being  the  federal  head  or  re- 
presentative of  the  human  race,  seems  not  satisfac- 
tory to  a mind,  inclined  to  derive  or  expect  only  good 
and  perfect  things,  from  the  good  and  perfectCreator. 
By  one  man’s  disobedience,  it  is  true,  many  were 
made  sinners,  but  not  on  account  of  an  imputation  of 
this  man’s  sin,  but  because  by  him,  sin  entered  into 
the  world.” 

4.  Original  sin,”  saith  a pious  author  in  his  intro- 
duction to  the  book  entitled  “ Whole  duty  of  man,” 

is  the  fault  ond  corruption  of  the  nature  of  every 
man,  that  is  naturally  engendered  of  the.  offspring  of 
Adam,  whereby  man  is  far  gone  from  original  righte- 
ousness, and  is  of  his  own  nature  inclined  to  evil  ; so 
that  the  flesh  lusteth  contrary  to  the  spirit,  and  there- 
fore, in  every  person  born  into  this  world,  if  deserveth 
God’s  wrath  and  damnation;  and  this  infection  ot  na- 
ture doth  remain,  even  in  them  that  are  regenerated. 


89 


And  as  man  could  not  recover  himself,  nor  raise 
himself  outcf  his  own  ruin,  and  as  no  creature  was 
able  to  doit, the  mercy  of  God,  pitied  our  misery, 
and  his  wisdom  devised  this  expedient,  to  reconcile 
his  mercy  and  justice,  viz.  that  no  man  should  on  ac- 
count of  original  sin,  be  eternally,  miserable,  except 
through  his  own  fault ; and  his  goodness  resolved,  that 
the  Son  of  God  should  undertake  this  work,  satisfy 
the  offended  justice  of  the  Almighty,  and  repair  the 
ruined  nature  of  mankind. 

5.  This  doctrine  of  the  moral  depravity  of  man- 
kind, was  even  taught  by  the  heathen  philosophers  : — - 
Plato  and  Socrates  often  speak  of  a moral  disease— 
Aristotle  calls  it  kakon  suggenes,  i.  e.  an  innate 
evil — and  a Latin  author  says,  Video  meliora, 
proboque  sed  deteriora  sequor,  i.  e.  I see  the  right 
and  approve  of  it,  and  yet  I pursue  the  wrong.  Even 
in  nature,  children  inherit  the  natures  and  diseases 
of  their  parents  5 if  parents  have  ruined  and  diseased 
their, natures,  by  sinful  practices,  their  offspring  feel 
the  consequences. 

6.  ZwirrgJe’s  opinion  of  original  sin,  may  be  taken 
from  the  following,  extracted  from  Milner’s  church 
history,  vol.  5 Sin  is  the  transgression  of  a law, 
and  where  there  is  no  law,  there  is  no  transgression. 
Our  original  father  sinned  ; but  who  among  us  did  eat 
of  the  forbidden  tree  ? Original  sin,  as  it  is  in  us,  who 
are  the  offspring  of  Adam,  cannot  justly  be  called 

H 2 


our  sin.  It  is  a disease*  a depraved  state.  So  a re?, 
bel,  who  is  taken  a prisoner  in  battle,  may  be  made  a 
slave,  and  if  so,  bis  children  may  also  be  made  slaves  ; 
but  the  fault  was  in  the  father.  The  children  may  be 
blameless  and  yet  have  to  suffer  on  account  of  the 
sins  of  the  father.  If  you  wish  to  call  their  state  sin, 
because  they  were  brought  into  it  by  sin  and  rebellion, 
I have  nothing  to  say  against  it.  In  this  sense,  we  are 
all  children  of  wrath,  by  nature. 


ARTICLE  III. 

OF  THE  SON  OF  GOD. 

We  also  teach,  that  God  the  Son,  became 
man,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary ; and  that  the 
two  natures,  divine  and  human,  inseparably 
united  together  in  one  person,  are  one  Christ, 
who  is  true  God  and  man,  who  was  'truly 
born,  who  truly  suffered,  was  crucified,  dead 
and  buried — that  he  was  a sacrifice,  not  only 
for  original  sin,  but  also  for  all  other  sins,  and 
reconciled  the  wrath  of  God.  Also  that  the 
same  Christ  descended  into  hell,*  truly  arose 
from  the  dead  on  the  third  day,  that  he  as- 

* Hades,  or  the  place  of  departed  spirits. 


cendecl  tato  heaven,  and  sitteth  at  the  right  of 
God  ; that  he  eternally  rules  over  all  his  crea- 
tures and  governs  ; that  he  sanct  lies,  streng- 
thens and  comforts,  through  his  Holy  Spirit, 
all,  who  believe  in  him,  and  gives  unto  them 
life  and  various  gifts  and  blessings — and  that 
he  defends  and  protects  them  against  the  de- 
vil and  against  sin. 

Also,  that  the  same  Lord  Christ,  will  pub 
licly  come  to  judge  the  living  and  the  dead* 


In  the  Lutheran  catechism,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing words  I believe,  that  Jesus  Christ, 
true  God,  begotten  of  the  Father  from  eterni- 
ty, and  also  true  man,  born  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  is  my  Lord  ; who  hath  redeemed,  pur- 
chased and  delivered  me,  a poor  forlorn  and 
condemned  person,  from  sin,  from  death,  and 
from  the  power  of  the  dev  l ; not  with  gold  or 
silver,  but  with  his  holy  precious  blood,  and 
with  his  innocent  sufferings  and  death  ; in 
order  that  I might  be  his,  live  under  him  in 
his  kingdom,  and  serve  him  in  everlasting 
righteousness,  innocence  and  happiness.— 
£arl  2,  of  the  Creed. 


NOTES.  - 


1.  Christ  offered  up  himself  a sacrifice  for  all  men* 
and  hath  purchased  for  them  God's  grace,  righteous- 
ness, life,  and  salvation,  and  the  holy  Ghost.  Frey- 
linghausen’s  Or  do  Salmis,  in  the  Lutheran  Catechism. 

£.  Our  Saviour  has  made  a full,  perfect  and  suffi- 
cient sacrifice,  oblation  and  satisfaction,  for  the  sins 
of  the  whole  world  ; he  has  suffered  a cruel  and  igno- 
minious death  upon  the  cross  for  our  sakes,  and  by 
his  death  and  sufferings  has  purchased  this  grace  for 
us,  that  real  repentance  and  sincere  obedience  shall 
be  accepted  instead  of  innocence;  but  without  this 
repentance  and  renewed  obedience  we  shall  not  be 
accepted  on  any  terms.  The  sacrifice  which  he  of- 
fered, although  of  infinite  value,  will  be  of  no  avail  to 
us,  unless  in  conformity  to  his  death  and  resurrection, 
we  die  unto  sin,  and  rise  again  unto  newness  of  life. 
Whole  duty  of  man,  page  18. 

3;  When  by  our  sins  we  had  justly  incurred  the 
displeasure  of  Almighty  God  and  were  liable  to  eter- 
nal miserv,  our  blessed  Saviour  discharged  the  obli- 
gation, and  by  shedding  his  most  precious  blood  as 
the  price  of  redemption,  made  satisfaction  to  God 
for  us  ; he  was  contented  to  be  offered  a sacrifice  for 
us,  to  bear  our  sins  in  bis  own  body  on  the  tree,  and 
to  atone  for  the  guilt  of  our  offences,  by  the  one  ob- 
lation of  himself  once  offered  for  ns  all.  And  he  di- 
ed not  only  for  our  benefit  and  advantage,  but  in  our 


93 


place  and  stead,  so  that,  if  he  had  not  died,  we  had  e* 
teinally  perished,  without  being  able  to  escape  the 
justice  of  an  angry  God.  Ibidem , page  9 T 

4.  In  considering  the  propitiatory  sacrifice  af 
Christ,  (says  Dr.  Michaelis)  we  must  not  confine  our 
views  to  this  our  small  world,  which  is  comparatively 
speaking,  but  a grain  of  sand  to  the  whole  universe  $ 
no,  we  must  consider,  that  the  bible  represents  Christ 
as  known  to  the  whole  creation,  to  all  other  worlds. 
And  thus  the  satisfaction  of  Christ  becomes  an  exam- 
ple of  the  justice  and  mercy  of  God  to  all  his  other 
subjects.  In  punishing  his  only  beloved  son,  who 
had  become  our  substitute,  he  proved  his  hatred  to 
sin  more,  than  if  he  had  punished  us  individually,  and 
punishment  executed  on  so  infinitely  great  and  belov- 
ed a being,  must  indeed  be  more  deterring  to  all  his 
subjects,  than  if  he  had  eternally  punished  the  whole 
fallen  race  of  Adam.  If  God  spared  not  his  only  be- 
gotten son,  how  can  they  hope  to  be  spared,  if  they 
should  transgress.  Mich . Com.  Theol.  Dogm. — art. 
Christ. 

5.  The  nature  and  extent  of  the  efficacy  of  the 
great  atouement  made  by  Christ,  (says  Dr.  Blair)  we 
are  unable,  as  yet,  fully  to  trace.  Part  we  are  capa- 
ble of  beholding  ; and  the  wisdom  of  what  we  behold, 
we  have  reason  to  adore.  W e discern  in  this  planet 
redemption  the  evil  of  sin  strongly  exhibited  5 and 
the  justice  of  the  divine  government  awfully  exempli- 
fied, in  Christ  suffering  for  sinners.  But  let  us  not 


94 


imagine,  that  our  present  discoveries  unfold  the  whole 
influence  of  the  death  of  Christ.  It  is  connected 
with  causes  into  which  we  cannot  penetrate.  It  pro- 
duces consequences  too  extensive  for  us  to  explore. 
God’s  thoughts  are  not  as  our  thoughts.  In  all  things 
we  see  only  in  part ; and  here,  if  anywhere,  we  see 
also,  as  through  a glass,  darkly.  Biair’s  Sermons , 
vol.  1,  page  74. 

6.  The  infidel  rejects  the  doctrine  of  an  atone- 
ment, because  he  cannot  fully  comprehend  it.  I 
might  ask,  what  can  we  short-sighted  creatures  fully 
comprehend  P very  little  indeed,  even  of  those  things 
which  we  daily  see.  And  shall  we  reject  the  plan  of 
salvation  made  by  omnipotent  wisdom,  because  we 
caunot  fully  look  into  it  ? Shall  the  man  who  is  sink- 
ing under  a mortal  disease,  refuse  the  medicine, 
which  shall  infallibly  restore  him,  because  he  is  igno- 
rant of  the  ingredients  of  which  it  is  composed  ?-— 
Shall  the  criminal,  who  is  under  the  sentence  of 
death,  reject  the  pardon,  which  is  unexpectedly  of- 
fered to  him,  because  he  cannot  conceive  in  what 
manner,  and  by  what  means,  it  was  obtained  fol- 
ium ? In  short,  shall  we  determine  not  to  be  saved, 
because  God  chooses  to  do  it,  not  in  our  way,  but 
in  his  own  ? This  would  certainly  be  acting  very 
foolishly  and  dangerously. — Let  us  not,  my  breth- 
y'^Wn,  be  among  the  number  of  such  deluded  persons. 
Let  us  not  make  God  a liar  by  disbelieving  his 
word.  Let  us  on  the  contrary  believe  the  report, 


95 


that  there  is  salvation  in  none  other,  and  that,  thiyo’ 
Christs  name,  whosoever  believeth  in  him,  shall  re- 
ceive remission  of  sins. — Acts  10,  43. 


ARTICLE  IV. 


OF  JUSTIFICATION. 

We  teach,  that  we  cannot  obtain  fonrive- 
ness  of  sins  and  righteousness  before  God, 
through  our  own  merits,  works  or  satisfac- 
tion, but  tliatjwe  obtain  forgiveness  of  sins, 
and  become  righteous  before  God  through 
grace,  for  Christ’s  sake,  by  faith,  if  we  be- 
lieve that  Christ  suffered  for  us,  and  that  for 
his  sake  sins  are  forgiven  , and  righteousness 
and  eternal  life  are  granted  to  us. 


We  are  accounted  righteous  before  Goc%* 
only  for  the  merits  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
- Jesus  Christ  by  faith,  and  not  for  our  own 
works  or  deservings.  Art . Epis.  Church. 


NOTES. 


3 Saving  faith  must  have  a promise  of  Got?  for 
its  object  This  promise  is,  that  God  will  forgive  us 
our  sins,  and  grant  us  eternal  life  for  Christ’s  sake, 
under  the  condition  that  we  penitently  receive  and 
embrace  him  as  our  Saviour.  Mich . comp,  th.dog.  art. 
Faith. 

He,  who  feels  sorrow  and  grief  on  account  of  his 
sins,  and  truly  believes  that  he  is  deserviug  of  eter- 
nal damnation,  but  yet,  that  God  will  pardon  his  sins 
for  Christ’s  sake,  will  receive  and  embrace  this  pro- 
mise of  forgiveness  and  eternal  life,  with  the  greatest 
desire  and  eagerness,  and  at  the  same  time  be  willing 
to  perform  those  conditions,  under  which  God  offers 
them,  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability  ; so  that  he  will  en- 
deavor, from  that  moment,  to  renounce  the  service  of 
sin,  for  which  Christ  bad  to  endure  such  dreadful  pun- 
ishments, and  strive  to  love  him  with  all  his  heart. 

.. Ibidem . 

2.  The  faith,  by  and  through  which  we  are  justi- 
fied, consists  not  in  a bare  knowledge  and  assent 
to  the  truth  of  the  gospel  ; but  it  is  a certain  inward 
persuasion,  by  which  we  sincerely,  apd  with  our 
■whole  heart,  do  embrace  the  doctrines  contained  in 
the  word  of  God  as  true,  and  especially  Christ  as  our 
Saviour,  and  this  persuasion  must  penetrate  the  heart? 
and  be  accompanied  with  a suitable  practice.  Os- 
terwald’s  Theology. 


9? 


3.  The  distinguishing  doctrine  of  the  reformation 
saith  Dr.  Buchanan,  in  his  sermon,  entitled  “ Star 
in  the  East,”  was  justification  by  faith.  “This  said 
Luther,  is  the  only  solid  rock.  This  rock  continues 
he,  did  Satan  shake  in  paradise,  when  he  persuaded 
our  first  parents,  that  by  their  own  w’isdom  and  power 
they  might  become  like  unto  God,  and  thereby  indu- 
ced them  to  renounce  their  faith  in  God,  who  had 
given  them  life  and  a promise  of  its  continuance. — . 
The  kingdom  of  Satan,  added  Luther,  is  to  be  resisted 
by  this  heavenly  and  all-powerful  doctrine.  Whether 
we  be  rude  or  eloquent — whether  we  be  learned  or 
unlearned,  this  rock  must  be  defended — this  doctrine 
must  be  published  in  animated  strains. — It  is  « the 
magna  charta  ecclesise  stantis  vel  cadentis.” 

Luther's  preface  to  the  Galatians. 


ARTICLE  V. 

OF  THE  MINISTRY. 

To  obtain  such  a faith,  God  hath  institu- 
ted  the  ministry,  and  given  us  the  gospel 
and  the  sacraments,  through  which,  as  means, 
he  gives  the  Holy  spirit,  who  works  faith, 
where  and  when  he  will,  in  those  that  alter - 
I 


lively  hear  the  gospel,  which  teaches  that  we 
have  a merciful  God,  through  Christ’s  merits, 
and  not  through  any  merit  of  our  own. 


ARTICLE  VI. 


OF  RENEWED  OBEDIENCE. 

We  also  teach,  that  such  a faith  brings 
forth  good  fruit  and  good  tvorks,  and  that  we 
must  do  such  good  works,  as  God  hath  com- 
manded,  yet  not  to  trust  in  them,  as  if 
we  could  thereby  merit  grace  with  God. — - 
For  we  obtain  forgiveness  of  sin  and  righ- 
teousness, through  faith  in  Christ,  as  Christ 
himself  saith,  Luc  17  : When  ye  shall  have 
done  all  those  things,  which  are  commanded 
you,  ye  shall  say,  we  are  unprofitable  ser- 
vants. Thus  the  Fathers  also  teach  ; for 
Ambrosius  saith  : It  is  so  determined  by  God, 
that  he  who  believes  in  Christ  shall  be  sav- 
ed and  obtain  forgiveness  of  sins,  not  through 
works,  but  only  through  faith,  without  any 
merits  of  his  own. 


ARTICLE  VII. 

OF  THE  CHURCH. 


We  teach,  that  there  must  always  be  a 
holy  Christian  church,  which  is  a congrega- 
tion  of  the  faithful,  in  which  the  gospel  is 
purely  preached,  and  the  holy  sacraments  ad- 
ministered agreeably  to  Christ  ordinance. 

And  this  is  sufficient  to  a true  unity  of  the 
ehristian  churches,  that  the  gospel  be  preached 
and  the  sacraments  administered  agreeably  to 
the  word  of  God.  It  is  therefore  not  necessa- 
ry to  the  unity  of  the  Christian  churches,  that 
ceremonies  instituted  by  men,  should  be  a- 
like  at  all  places,  as  Paul  saith,  Eph.  iv.  4, 
5.  There  is  one  body  and  one  spirit,  even  as 
you  are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling  ; 
one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God 
and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and 
through  all,  and  in  you  alh 


10® 


ARTICLE  VIII. 

the  members , which  compose  the 
Church,  and  of  the  unworthiness  of 
Ministers  not  hindering  the  effect  of 
the  Sacraments. 

Although  the  Christian  church  be  a con- 
gregation of  the  faithful  and  holy ; yet,  where- 
as there  are  many  false  Christians  and  hypo- 
crites in  the  world,  and  there  will  always  be 
open  sinners  among  the  pious,  nevertheless 
the  sacraments  are  effectual,  although  the 
preachers,  by  whom  they  are  administered, 
be  not  pious,  as  our  saviour  himself  saith, 
Math,  xxiii.  2 ; “ The  scribes  and  Pharisees 
sit  in  Moses’  seat  ; whatsoever  they  bid  you 
observe,  that  observe  and  do.” 


104 

ARTICLE  IX. 

OF  BAPTISM. 

We  teach  that  baptism  is  necessary,  and 
that  grace  is  thereby  offered,  and  that  child- 
ren are  to  be  baptised,  who  are  by  such  bap- 
tism dedicated  to  God  and  made  pleasing'  to 
him. 

We  therefore  cannot  agree  with  those,  who 
reject  infant  baptism. 

Baptism  is  not  mere  water,  but  it  is  that  wat- 
er, which  the  ordinance  of  God  enjoins,  and 
which  is  connected  with  God’s  word.  Lu- 
theran catechism . 

Again,  baptism  is  an  holy  sacrament  and  a 
divine  token,  that  God  the  Father,  together 
with  the  son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  certifies, 
that  he  will  be  a merciful  God  to  the  bapti- 
sed person,  and  pardon  ail  his  sins  out  of 
pure  me  cy,  for  Christ’s  sake,  and  receive 
him  as  his  child,  and  an  heir  of  heavenly  hies- 
Ibidem 

* 1 2 


sings. 


iQ2 


Again,  baptism  assures  us  of  God’s  grace, 
of  forgiveness  of  sins,  of  adoption  into  the 
family  of  God,  and  of  the  inheritance  of  eter- 
nal life,  under  the  condition,  that  we  re- 
nounce the  devil  and  all  his  works,  the  pomps 
and  vanities  of  this  wicked  world,  and  all  the 
sinful  lusts  of  the  flesh,  and  strive  to  believe 
and  serve  God  as  long  as  we  live.  Ibidem . 

NOTES. 

1.  In  baptism  we  enter  into  a covenant  with  God. 
He  promises  to  be  our  Father  for  Christ’s  sake,  and 
to  grant  us  his  Holy  Spirit,  in  order  to  guide  us  into 
the  ways  of  truth  and  holiness;  and  we  promise  to  be- 
come his  dutiful  children.  As  long  as  we  fulfil  our 
part  of  the  contract  or  covenant,  we  may  be  assured 
that  God’s  promises  will  stand  firm. 

2 Baptism  is  considered  by  the  Lutheran  Church, 
as  the  washing  of  regeneration  ; thus  Paul  calls  it, 
Tit.  3,  5.  We  therefore  find  that  in  the  primitive 
church,  baptism  and  regeneration  were  used  as  sy- 
uonimous  terms.  The  Jews,  when  they  baptised, 
heathens,  who  became  proselytes  to  them,  consider- 
ed them,  when  baptised,  as  regenerated,  that  is,  al- 
though they  were  born  of  heathens,  yet  after  baptism, 
they  were  considered,  as  if  they  had  been  born  of 
Jewish  parents  ; this  was  the  received  opinion  of  the 
'Word  regeneration  among  the  Jews.  Thus  in  chris- 


108 


tian  baptism,  although  we  are  by  nature  born  in  sin 
and  of  sinful  parents,  yet  in  baptism  God  conde- 
scends in  mercy,  for  Christ’s  sake,  to  adopt  us  as  hi3 
children,  and  to  take  us  under  his  particular  care. — • 
<Mich.  comp,  tlieol. 

3 Original  sin  is  forgiven  in  baptism,  not  as 
though  it  were  no  more,  but  that  it  is  not  imputed 
to  us.  Augustine  and  Luther — Apology  of  Confess 
sion. 

4.  In  the  German  Heildelberg  catechism  we  find 
the  following  words  : Christ  hath  instituted  baptism, 
and  hath  thereby  promised,  that  I am  as  surely  wash- 
ed with  his  blood  and  spirit  from  the  impurity  of  my 
soul,  that  is,  from  all  my  sins,  as  I am  outwardly 
washed  with  water,  which  usually  takes  away  the  im- 
purity of  my  body. 

5.  It  is  not  the  want  of  baptism,  but  the  despi- 
sing of  baptism,  which  condemns. 

V 

6.  Concerning  sponsors,  commonly  called  god- 
fatherssand  godmothers,  the  church  decrees  nothing. 
It  is  entirely  at  the  option  of  the  parents  to  stand  for 
their  children  themselves,  or  to  have  sponsors. 

7.  The  Lutherans  baptise  by  pouring  or  sprink- 
ling of  water,  but  yet  do  not  reject  immersion  ; they 
consider  one  way  as  good  as  the  other. 


104 


8.  They  hold  infant  baptism,  because?, 

a.  Children  were  not  excluded  from  the  church  of 
Ood  in  the  old  testament.  They  were  circumcised, 
when  they  are  eight  days  old.  And  can  we  imagine; 
that  the  blessed  Jesus  came  to  straiten  or  contract  the 
privileges  of  the  new  testament,  and  put  Christians  in- 
to a worse  state,  than  the  Jews  were  under  the  old  ? 

b.  Christ  hath  declared,  Math.  x.  14,  of  such  is 
the  kingdom  of  God,  i.  e.  such  shall  be  admitted  into 
my  kingdom. 

c.  Because  it  is  said,  Acts  ii.  38, .the  promise  is 
Unto  you  and  to  your  children. 

d.  When  the  Jews  baptised  their  proselytes,  they 
at  the  same  time  baptised  the  children  of  such  pros- 
elytes  ; this  was  a known  and  established  custom.— 
When  therefore  our  Saviour  commanded  his  apostles 
to  go  into  the  world,  and  make  all  nations  his  disci- 
ples, baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Sori 
and  Holy  Ghost,  the  apostles  could  not  under- 
stand him  other  wise,  hut  that  he  wished  them  also  to 
baptise  children,  as  that  was  a customary  thing.  In- 
deed, had  our  Saviour  wished  to  exclude  the  children 
from  baptism,  it  Mould  have  been  necessary  to  give 
the  apostles  an  express  prohibition,  and  to  say  unto 
them,  go  ye  and  baptise,  but  not  as  is  customary  a- 
mong  the  Jew's,  who  also  baptise  the  children  of  their 
proselytes,  no,  I will  have  none  but  adults  accept- 
ed into  my  church- 


e.  Because  the  apostles  baptised  whole  families* 
Acts,  xvi.  33. — and  finally 

f.  Because  parents  have  a right  to  make  contracts 
for  their  children,  to  their  advantage,  as  long  as  such 

children  have  not  attained  the  proper  use  of  their  rea- 
son. 


ARTICLE  X. 

OF  THE  HOLY  SUPPER. 

Of  the  Supper  of  the  Lord  we  teach  that 
the  true  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
verily  present,  under  the  external  signs  of 
bread  and  wine,  in  the  supper,  and  there  com- 
municated and  received. 


It  is  the  true  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  under  the  external  signs  of 
bread  and  wine,  given  unto  Christians  to  eat 
and  drink,  as  it  was  instituted  by  Christ  him- 
self. Lutheran  catechism. 


106 


* 


The  supper  of  Christ  is  an  holy  sacrament 
and  divine  token,  wherein  Christ  truly  offers 
unto  us,  under  bread  and  wine,  his  body  and 
blood,  and  assures  us  thereby,  that  we  have 
forgiveness  of  sins  and  eternal  life.  Ibidem. 

NOTES. 

1.  To  understand  the  above  expressions,  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  consider,  that  Zwingle,  the  reformer  in 
Switzerland, ^who  had  agreed  with  Luther  in  every 
essential  point,  but  this,)  taught  that  the  Lord’s  sup- 
per was  only  a commemoration  of  the  death  of  Christ, 
and  that  nothing  was  either  offered  or  received  in  the 
sacrament : with  this  Luther  would  not  agree.  He 
insisted  that,  agreeably  to  the  nature  of  a sacrament, 
something  must  be  offered  and  received.  Hence  a- 
xose  that  expression — true  body.  He  wished  to  say 
that  there  really  was  a partaking  of  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  in  the  supper. 

£.  The  Lutherans  therefore  hold,  that  the  bread 
remains  bread,  and  the  wine  remains  wine  ; but  as- 
sure as  the  penitent  communicant  receives  the  bread 
and  wine,  so  surely  does  he  receive  the  body  and 
blood  of  the  Lord  Jesus— -or  in  other  words,  the  ben- 
efits of  redemption  ; that  there  is  therefore  an  union 
<or  communion  between  the  external  signs,  and  the  bo- 
dy and  blood  of  Christ.  1 Cor.  10.  However  they 
do  no.t  attempt  an  explanation  of  the  manner  of  this- 


i 07 


ft 

anion.  Lei  it  be  called,  say  they,  a sacramental  u» 
nion,  because  there  is  nothing  in  the  nature  ofthings, 
that  can  illustrate  it,  or  that  is  like  it.  Dr  . Kunze’s 
history  of  the  Lutheran  church. 

3.  Calvin,  saitb  a writer  in  the  Cyclopedia,  (art. 
Church)  substituted,  instead  of  the  system  adopted 
fey  Zudngle  with  regard  to  the  eudhai-ist,  another, 
.which  appeared  more  conformable  to  the  doctrine  of 
ihe  Lutheran  church,  and  which,  in  reality,  differed 
very  little  from  it  ; for  he  acknowledged  a real,  tho" 
spiritual  presence  of  Christ  in  this  Sacrament. — • 
His  words,  taken  from  his  institutes,  are,  “ I hold 
myself  without  contradiction  to  the  promise  of  Christ. 
He  commands  me  to  take,  to  eat  and  to  drink  his  bo- 
dy and  his  blood,  under  the  signs  of  bread  and  wine, 
in  the  supper  ; and  I,  for  my  part,  doubt  not,  but 
that  he  really  gives  that  which  he  hath  promised,  and 
that  I receive  it  out  of  his  hands.” 

4.  In  the  confession  of  the  reformed  church,  m 
the  Spanish  Netherlands,  as  also  of  the  reformed 
French  church,  we  find  the  following  words  : we  con- 
fess that  Jesus  Christ  nourishes  us  in  the  holy  supper, 
with  his  true  body  and  blood,  and  that  he  reaUy  and 
verily  communicates  to  us,  what  he  therein  repre- 
sents. Risler’s  extracts. 

5.  Sacrifices  constituted  a part  of  public  worship  $ 
they  prefigured  Christ’s  atoning  death.  The  Chris- 
tians ought  not  to  be  without  this  essential  part  of 


m 


im 

worship.  But  their  sacrificing  consists  in  partaking 
•of  the  Lord’s  body  and  blood,  pursuant  to  the  express 
institution  of  Christ.  The  fathers  of  the  first  centu- 
ries are  unanimous  in  calling  the  Lord’s  supper — the 
Christian  sacrifice.  Neglecting  this,  is  giving  up  our 
interest  in  Christ’s  atoning  death.  Kunze’s  history. 

6 In  the  celebration  of  the  Lord’s  supper,  it  is 
left  to  the  Congregation,  whether  to  use  bread  or  sa- 
cramental cakes. 

7.  The  sacraments  are  means  of  grace,  and  there- 
fore to  be  administered,  not  only  to  the  pious  and  con- 
verted, but  also  to  those  who  are  desirous  of  their 
salvation,  and  willing  publicly  to  confess  their  Savi- 
our. It  was  not  instituted  for  angels  or  the  saints  in 
heaven,  but  for  the  poor,  tbe  bungling  and  thirsting, 
andTor  those  who  desire  the  cure  of  their  diseased 
souls.  To  say  1 dare  not  go  to  the  Lord’s  supper,  un- 
til I am  really  converted,  is  the  same  as  if  a sick  per- 
son should  say,  I will  take  no  medicine  before  I am 
cured.* 

The  passage,  1 Cor.  xi.  29,  hath  been  often  used 
to  det^f  poor  and  contrite  souls  from  the  communion^ 
where  it  is  said  : he  thateateth  and  drinketh  unwor- 
thily, eateth  and  drinketh  damnation  to  himself,  not 

* Judas  was  certainly  in  an  unconverted  state,  and  yet  the 
Saviour  suffered  him  to  beat  the  table.  He  offered  him  his 
grace,  and  had  he  made  good  use  of  it,  .lie  might  yet  have  been 
saved. 


discerning  the  Lord’s  body.  But  it  is  to  be  observed, 
that  the  word  damnation,  certainly  means  in  this  pas- 
sage, judgment  or  temporal  chastisement,  asrihe  con- 
text plainly  proves.  And  the  word  unworthily  is  not 
the  noun  anaxios , but  the  adverb  anaxiws , and  does  > 
not  refer  to  the  state  Or  situation  of  the  person  who 
receives  the  communion,  but  to  the  manner  in  which 
he  receives  it.  The  apostle  wishes  to  say,  “ He  who 
eats  and  drinks  in  a disrespectful  and  unbecoming 
manner,  will  certainly  bring  down  upon  himself  the 
chastisements  of  the  Lord” — If  the  receiving  of  the 
Lord’s  supper  will  even  not  be  an  effectual  means  to 
save  him,  God  cannot  save  him,  unless  it  is  by  and 

through  severe  chastisements. JWch.  Com.  TheoL 

Dognu 

Before  I conclude  this  article,  I will  take  the  liber- 
ty of  translating  a few  passages  from  a work  lately 
published  in  Germany,  (1814,)  entitled,  “Practical 
remarks  concerning  the  conduct  of  evangelical  mini- 
sters. This  work  contains  the  opinions  of  a confer- 
ence of  preachers  assembled  at  Kerrnhut,  and  com- 
posed of  embers  of  the  different  societies  of  United 
brethren,  e formed  and  Lutherans.  Under  the  arti- 
cle of  the  Lord’s  supper,  they  say  : 

“ An  evangelical  preacher  must  often  explain  to 
his  hearers  1 1 e design  and  importance  of  the  Holy 
Supper,  and  tell  them  what  belongs  to  a worthy  re- 
ception of  the  same  ; but  he  has  no  right  to  reipct  a 

K 


'-person  from  receiving  the  communion,  because  he 
supposes  him  to  be  yet  in  an  unregeuerated  state. 
Such,  however,  as  are  openly  living  in  sin,  and 
would  dishonor  the  table  of  the  Lord,  he  may  keep 
l>ack  until  they  come  to  the  knowledge  of  their  sinful 

state  and  promise  to  reform  their  lives. -It  is  his 

great  consolation,  that  he  dare  tender  an  universal 
offer  of  grace,  without  hesitation,  to  all  souls  to  whom 
he  gives  the  Sacrament,  and  we  know  not  how  often 
the  Saviour  makes  use  of  this  occasion,  to  touch  their 
hearts,  and  lead  them  to  true  repentance. 

*'•  It  is  an  erroneous  opinion,  that  every  unconvert* 
•ed  person  receives  the  holy  Sacrament  to  his  damna- 
tion. The  passage  recorded  1 Cor.  xi.  29,  certainly 
does  not  warrant  this  assertion  ; for  Paul  expressly 
says  in  the  32d  verse,  ‘ when  we  are  judged  (punish- 
ed, chastised  or  damned)  we  are  chastened  of  the 
Lord,  that  we  should  not  be  condemned  with  the 
world.5  We  therefore,  draw  upon  ourselves  temporal 
chastisements,  if  we  do  not  receive  this  Sacrament 
with  becoming  reverence  and  respect.  It  must  also^ 
be  considered,  that  the  apostle  does  not  say,  he  who 
eats  as  an  unworthy  person,  but  be  who  eats  in  an  un- 
worthy, unbecoming,  disrespectful  manner So, 

that  he  is  not  speaking  at  all  of  the  worthiness  of  the 
communicant,  but  of  the  respect  and  reverence  where- 
with the  Sacrament  is  to  be  celebrated.  If  therefore, 
a person  comes  to  the  table  of  the  Lord  with  true  re- 
v ;rrence  and  humility,  we  need  not  fear  that  he  re- 


spires  it  umro-rtlnTy  ; and  experience  teaches,,  that 
most  persons  are  powerfully  moved  on  that  occasion., 
and  we  have  no  doubt  of  its  being  the  means,  of  bring- 
ing many  to  repentance  and  to  Christ  '5 


ARTICLE  XL 


OP  CONFESSION  AND  ABSOLUTION. 

We  teach,  that  private  confession  may  be 
retained  in  the  church  ; although  it  is  not. 
necessarv  incur  confession  to  mention  all  our 

•f 

sins  and  transgressions,  because  it  is  not  pos- 
sible, .Ps.  xix.  12  • Who  can  understand  his 
errors  ? 

In  the  25th  article,  we  find  the  following 
words  : It  is  not  necessary  to  force  the  peo- 
ple to  mention  their  particular  sins.  Thus- 
did  Chrisostom  teach  : I do  not  say,  that  you 
shall  publicly  accuse  yourself,  but  obeyjfhe 
words  of  the  prophet,  who  says,  Reveal  thy- 
self and  commit  thy  ways  to  the  Lord.  There- 
fore* confess- to- &ody  the  true  Judge,  not  a am- 


108 


ing  your  sins  with  your  tongue  but  in  yotrr 
conscience.  Confession  before  or  to  a priest, 
is  not  commanded  in  scripture— -it  was  only 
ordained  by  the  church* 

NOTES. 

It  was  a custom  before  the  reformation,  to  make 
confession  of  sins,  in  private,  to  a priest,  and  to  ob- 
tain absolution  from  him.  Luther  and  his  colleagues 
contended,  that  this  custom  was  not  commanded  in 
holy  scripture,  and  that  it  vras  only  an  ordinance  of 
the  church,  which  might  be  of  use,  when  properly- 
conducted.  However,  they  did  not  believe,  that  the 
absolution  by  the  priest  would  be  of  any  use,  unless 
the  person  confessing,  was  in  a truly  penitent  state  ; 
and  then,  it  could  not  be  considered,  that  the  priest 
could  absolve  : all  that  he  could  do,  was  to  declare 
to  the  penitent,  the  promises  of  God,  concerning  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,  and  to  pronounce  the  threatnings 
of  the  law  of  God,  to  the  impenitent,  as  long  as  they 
continued  in  sin. 

At  present,  this  custom  is  regulated  thus,  in  the 
Lutheran  churches  : A day  or  two  before  the  holy 
sacrament  of  the  Lord’s  Supper  is  to  be  administered 
in  a congregation,  the  persons  desirous  of  becoming 
communicants,  go  to  the  house  of  the  minister,  or  to 
any  other  appointed  place,  to  give  In  their  names,  so 
thtgt  he  may  have  an  opportunity  to  speak  to  them> 


concerning  their  spirituat  state  ; and  that  they  also 
may  have  an  opportunity  to  disclose  their  state  to 
him,  and  ask  his  advice.  The  day  previous  to  the 
administration  of  the  Lord’s  Supper,  all,  who  wish  to 
become  communicants,  attend  at  the  church  for  divine 
worship.  After  singing  an  hymn  and  praying,  a suit-’ 
able  discourse  is  delivered — the  object  of  which,  is  to 
assist  the  hearers,  in  an  examination  of  themselves,, 
in  order  to  bring  them  to  a sense  of  their  sinfulness 
and  depravity,  and  to  induce  them  to  humble  them- 
selves before  the  throne  of  God,  to  seek  forgiveness 
cf  sins  in  the  blood  of  the  Redeemer,  and  to  make  the 
solemn  resolution  to  amend  their  lives.  After  this 
discourse,  some  questions  are  put  to  the  audience* 
which  are  answered  in  the  affirmative.  The  congre- 
gation then  kneels — one  of  them  repeats  a confession 
of  sins  with  an  audible  voice — the  minister  adds  a few 
ejaculations;  and,  after  all  have  stood  up,  he  pro- 
nounces pardon  and  absolution  to  all  the  truly  peni- 
tent ; but,  at  the  same  time,  he  says  to  the  impeni- 
tent, that  they  cannot  hope  for  the  pardon  of  their 
sins,  until  they  sincerely  turn  from  their  wicked 
ways  to  the  Lord, 

This  is  all  the  Lutheran  church  holds  concerning 
confession  and  absolution,  as  may  be  more  fully  seen 
in  their  liturgy. 

The  for  mute  of  absolution  in  the  Roman  churcb; 
'says  the  Cyclopedia,  art.  Absolution)  is  absolute--* 


110 


m the  Greek  church,  it  is  deprecatory'— and  in  the 
Protestant  churches  it  is  declarative. 


ARTICLE  XII. 

OF  REPENTANCE. 

We  teach,  that  those  who  have  sinned  after 
baptism,  may  again  obtain  forgiveness  of  sin, 
at  any  time,  if  they  repent,  and  that  absolution 
shall  not  be  denied  them  by  the  church.  And 
true  repentance  is  to  have  real  sorrow  and  ter- 
ror  on  account  of  sin,  and  at  the  same  tiine; 
a trust  or  faith  in  the  gospel,  that  the  sins  be 
forgiven  and  grace  is  obtained  thro’  Christ, 
which  faith  again  comforts  and  quiets  the 
heart ; but  afterwards  true  amendment  of  life 
must  follow,  so  that  we  forsake  sin  ; — for  this 
must  be  the  fruit  of  repentance,  as  John  saith, 
Matt.  iii.  Bring  forth  fruits  meet  for  repen- 
tance. 

Hence,  we  do  not  agree  with  those,  who 
teach,  that  they  who  were  once  pious,  can- 
not fall  again. 


NOTES. 

1.  We  say,  that  repentance  hath  two  parts  : con- 
trition and  faith.  However,  if  any  person  is  desirous 
of  adding  a third  part,  viz.  the  fruits  of  repentance, 
which  are  good  works,  we  will  not  dispute  with  hint. 
Spol.  of  Confes. 

2.  It  is  certainly  a false  repentance,  if  we  do  not 
Strive  to  render  satisfaction,  to  the  utmost  of  our 
power,  to  those  whom  we  have  wronged  ; for,  if  he 
who  hath  stolen  or  cheated,  and  hath  other  mens* 
goods  in  his  possession,  doth  not  return  them,  his  sor- 
row and  contrition,  is  certainly  not  of  a proper  na- 
ture. He  remains  a thief  or  defrauder  in  the  eyes  of 
God  and  man,  as  long  as  he  is  not  willing  to  make  sa- 
tisfaction. Therefore,  restitution  is  to  be  considered 
a fruit  of  repentance.  Jlpol.  of  Conf . 

3.  Repentance,  saith  Luther,  consists  in  a know- 
ledge of  one’s  errors  and  misery,  and  an  amendment 
of  life.  It  may  be  defined  “An  entire  and  zealous 
change  of  the  mind  and  of  the  heart” — it  teaches  us 
to  know  our  sins,  and  to  become  new  beings — it  pu- 
rifies and  cleanses  us  daily  from  sins.  And  this  re- 
pentance continues  until  death.  There  are  some  in- 
deed who  say,  (and  T have  discoursed  with  such)  that 
all  those,  who  have  once  repented  and  obtained  faith, 
cannot  fall.  If  they  even  sinned  afterwards,  yet  they 
wgald  still  remain  in  a state  of  grace ? and  their  sins’ 


US 

would  not  injure  them.  Do  what  ynti  please,  say 
tliey,  if  you  believe,  your  sins  are  all  done  away— 
faith  destroys  sin — once  a saint,  always  a saint. — . 
And,  they  add,  if  a person  sir*,  after  having  repented 
and  obtained  faith  and  the  spirit,  it  is  a proof  that  he 
never  really  repented,  that  he  never  had  faith  nor  the 
spirit.  This  is  certainly  a false  and  dangerous  doc- 
trine, a doctiine  which  the  bible  does  not  teach. 

4.  To  be  convinced  of  sin,  is/to  have  sorrow  and 
contrition,  and  to  tremble  on  account  of  God’s  wrath 
and  judgment;  after  which  true  amendment  of  life 
must  follow,  so  that  we  forsake  and  give  up  every 
sin,  and  strive  to  live  agreeably  to  the  will  of  God. 
Luther. 

5.  We  must  also  take  care  not  to  delay  our  re- 
pentance or  conversion,  by  thinking  that  we  have 
time  enough,  and  that  death  is  not  so  near.  We  hold 
that  a death-bed  repentance  is  a very  dangerous 
thing.  He,  who  wishes  to  repent,  should  strive  to  da 
it  immediately  ; otherwise  there  is  danger  that  all  he 
may  do,  will  be  vain  and  useless.  See  Tishler's  ex*1 
trusts  from  Luther’s  works. 


ARTICLE  XIII. 


OF  THE  USE  OF  THE  SACRAMENT?. 

The  Sacraments  were  instituted,  not  only 
as  signs,  whereby  Christians  may' outwardly 
be  known  ; but  also  as  signs  and  testimo- 
nies of  the  divine  will  towards  us,  thereby  to 
awaken  and  to  strengthen  our  faith  ; there- 
fore they  require  faith,  and  are  only  used 
rightly,  when  they  are  received  in  faith,  and 
When  our  faith  is  strengthened  thereby. 

There  are  but  two  Sacraments,  ordained 
by  Christ,  viz.  Baptism,  and  the  Lord’s  Sup- 
per. Lutheran  Catechism . 

NOTES, 

1.  The  Sacraments  are  to  be  considered  as  holy, 
mysterious  ceremonies,  commanded  by  Christ,  in 
which  God’s  grace  and  blessings  are  offered,  and  com- 
municated unto  us.  Michaelis  Comp.  Theol. 

2.  They  are  outward  and  visible  signs  of  inward, 
and  spiritual  grace  given  unto  us,  ordained  by  Chpkfc 


H4t 


himself,  as  means,  whereby  we  receive  the  same,  ana 
as  pledges  t“  assure  us  thereof. 

3.  The  Sacraments  are  designed  to  preserve  and 
perpetuate  the  religion  of  Christ  to  all  future  genera- 
tions,iand  are  necessary  to  salvation,  for  those  that  can 
have  them. 

Not  that  aur  blessed  Lord  will  condemn  all  hea- 
thens or  others,  who  have  never  heard  of  his  name,  for 
not  partaking  of  the  Sacraments,  which  never  came 
to  their  knowledge,  or  that  he  will  condemn  inno- 
cent children,  who  die  unbaptised  ; but  that  all,  to 
whom  the  knowledge  of  these  institutions  is  come, 
jmd  who  have  it  in  their  power  to  partake  of  them, 
are  indispensably  obliged  to  do  so. 


ARTICLE  XIV, 

OF  CHURCH  - GOVERNMENT 

We  hold,  that  no  person  should  teach  pub- 
licly, or  preach  in  the  church,  or  administer 
the  sacraments,  without  a regular  calL 


US 


NOTES, 

3.  The  government  of  the  Lutheran  church  is  va_ 
rions  : Where  the  rulers  are  of  the  same  Christian 
confession,  the  church  follows  their  direction  in  ex- 
ternal matters,  and  for  the  ordination  of  ministers, 
these  rulers  establish  councils,  called  Consistories/, 
but  where  this  is  not  the  case,  or  where  the  govern- 
ment is  of  a republican  form,  the  ministers  together 
form  a body  for  the  purpose  of  governing  the  church, 
'and  examining  and  ordaining  ministers — as  in  Ham- 
burg, Frankfort  and  America.  The  ministers,  howe- 
ver, are  every  where  under  the  inspection  of  an  ec- 
clesiastical overseer,  called  Bishop,  in  Denmark  and 
Sweden  ; — Superintendants,  Inspectors  or  Seniors, 
in  Germany — and  Senior  or  Presidents,  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, New-York  and  Carolina.  Their  authority, 
however,  does  not  extend  further,  than  to  admonish  r 
to  examine  applicants,  and  grant  licences  ad  interim 
to  them,  and  make  reports  to  the  Consistories,  Synods 
ox  Ministeriums.  See  Br.Kunze^s  Hist,  of  the  Church, 

2.  It  may  he  asked,  saith  a learned  divine,  whether 
the  office  of  Bishops  be  different  from  the  office  of 
Presbyters,  so  as  to  constitute  two  distinct  orders  ? 
We  answer,  that  there  is  no  essential  difference  be- 
tween them,  and  that  they  both  belong  to  the  same  or- 
der ; for  the  scriptures  confound  Bishops  and  Iv  sby- 
ters  together,  Acts  xx,  17,  compared  with  verse  28 — . 
Tit.  i.  5,,  compared  with  verse  7,  See.  &c.  Yet,  it  ca*- 


not  be  denied,  that  in  th«  primitive  church,  there  was 
always  an  Inspector,  Overseer,  President  or  Head  of 
lire  ministry,  who  presided  over  others,  that  were, 
however,  in  a state  of  equality  with  himself.*  See  ar- 
ticles of  Smalkalden  and  the  3d  part  of  this  work , 
chap.  2. 

'■*  He  is  considered,  primus  in  paribus 


ARTICLE  XV> 


OF  CHURCH  ORDINANCES. 

Of  church  ordinances  and  regulations,  we 
teach,  that  those  may  be  attended  to,  which 
may  be  observed  without  sinning,  and  which 
may  be  conducive  to  peace  and  good  order  in 
the  church  ; yet  we  give  this  instruction,  that 
the  consciences  of  men  should  not  be  molest- 
ed or  burthened  therewith,  as  though  they 
were  necessary  to  salvation.  And  we  believe, 
that  all  statutes  and  traditions,  made  by  men, 
for  the  mere  purpose  of  reconciling  Goa,  and 
meriting  grace,  are  contrary  to  the  gospel,  and 
the  doctrine  of  faith  in  Christ.  Therefore  we 


117 


hold,  that  monastic  vows  and  other  traditions 
of  the  difference  of  meats,  of  days,  See.  &c. 
whereby  some  conceive  to  merit  grace,  and 
render  satisfaction  for  sin,  are  of  no  avail,  and 
contrary  to  the  gospel. 

NOTES. 

A leading  principle  of  the  Lutheran  church,  sav« 
Mosheim  in  his  Church  history,  is,  “ That  Christ  has 
left  on  record  no  express  injunction  with  respect  to 
the  external  regulation  and  form,  that  is  to  be  observ- 
ed in  the  church  ; and  consequently,  that  every  so- 
ciety has  a right  to  establish  such  a form,  as  seemeth 
conducive  to  the  interest,  and  adapted  to  the  peculiar 
state,  circumstances  and  exigences  of  the  community; 
provided,  that  such  regulation  he  in  no  respect  preju- 
dicial to  truth,  or  favorable  to  the  revival  of  supersti- 
tion ; and  further,  that  no  political  government  hath 
a right  to  compel  any  society  or  set  of  men,  to  be- 
lieve or  hold  to  any  established  tenets  or  forms  of 
discipline,  because  man  is  amenable  only  to  God  for 
his  religious  principles.” 


L 


ARTICLE  XVI. 

OF  POLITICAL  GOVERNMENT. 

Of  polity  and  wordly  government,  we  teach, 
that  the  higher  powers  in  the  world,  and  regu- 
lations and  laws  conducive  to  good  order,  are 
to  be  considered  as  created  and  instituted  by 
God.  And  that  Christians  may  hold  either  legis- 
lative,judicial  or  executive  offices, without  sin- 
ning— that  they  may  pronounce  sentence  ac- 
cording to  imperial  or  other  rights — that  they 
may  punish  transgressors  with  the  sword  ; — - 
they  may  also  be  engaged  in  just  wars — they 
may  buy  and  sell — they  may  take  oaths  when 
required  to  do  so  by  magistrates — they  may 
hold  property*— they  may  marry,  &c. 

We,  therefore,  do  not  agree  with  those  who 
teach  that  such  things  are  contrary  to  Chris- 
tianity ; neither  do  we  agree  with  those,  who 
say,  that  it  belongs  to  Christian  perfection,  to 
forsake  house  and  property,  wife  and  children. 
For,  we  conceive,  that  this  is  true  perfection, 
tf$  have  a true  fear  of  God,  and  a true  faith  i» 


God.  The  gospel  doth  not  teach  an  outward 
temporal,  but' an  inward  eternal  righteous- 
ness of  the  heart,  and  does  not  abolish  worth 
ly  governments,  polity  or  matrimony  ; but 
desires  that  we  should  esteem  them  as  true 
and  real  ordinances,  and  that  each  should 
show  Christian  charity  and  good  works,  in  his 
particular  state  of  life.  Christians  are  there- 
fore bound  to  be  subject  to  the  higher  pow- 
ers, and  to  be  obedient  to  their  laws,  in  all 
things,  'which  can  be  done  without  sinning. 
But  if  the  laws  of  government  cannot  be 
obeyed  without  sinning,  then  we  mustheark- 
an  more  to  God  than  man.  Acts  iv.  19. 


ARTICLE  XVII. 

OP  CHRIST'S  COMING  TO  JUDGMENT. 

It  is  also  taught  among  us,  that  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  will  come  to  judge,  at  the  latter 
day — that  he  will  raise  up  the  dead,  and  give 
to  all  the  faithful  and  elect  eternal  life  an 
joy  ; but  that  he  will  condemn  wicked  men 
and  devils  to  hell,  and  eternal  punishments, 


NOTES, 


1.  The  soui  of  man,  aftar  death,  doth  not  sleep, 
but  continues  to  live,  and  enters  either  into  paradise, 
or  into  a place  of  pain  and  torments.  On  the  day  of 
resurrection,  our  bodies  will  be  reanimated,  by  the 
power  of  Almighty  God,  and  reunited  to  our  souls.- 
And  then  we  shall  have  to  appear  before  the  judgment- 
seat  of  Christ,  to  give  an  account  of  our  steward- 
ship, and  be  introduced  either  into  eternal  life,  or  e- 
iernal  misery. 

2.  There  will  be  different  degrees  of  rewards  a- 
mong  the  righteous,  as  well  as  different  degrees  of 
punishments  among  the  wicked  ; for  God  will  give  to 
every  one  according  to  his  works. 

3.  We  also  believe  that  all  men  will  be  judged  by 
the  law  of  God,  and  the  measure  of  knowledge,  which 
they  enjoyed.  Such  as  had  no  other  law  but  the 
law  of  nature,  shall  be  judged  by  the  natural  law  ; 
and  they,  to  whom  a divine  revelation  was  given,  shall 
be  judged  according  to  the  law  of  revelation.  Bom . 
ii,  9,  10, 14,  15.  James  ii,  12. 

3.  It  cannot  be  asserted,  saith  Osterwald,  that 
souls  after  death,  do  immedistely  enter  into  the  full 
enjoyment  of  perfect  and  absolute  felicity  in  heaven  ? 
or  that  they  immediately  endure  the  same  torments, 
which  Christ  by  his  last  sentence  will  inflict  upon  the 
wicked  ; for  the  scriptures  assign  both  remuneration 


1 


181 

and  punishment,  to  the  last  judgment  of  Christ. 
Matth.  xiii.  41,  <§*c. — Matth.  xxv.  46. 

Besides,  man  cannot  be  perfect,  as  long  as  his  bodyr- 
whichis  an  essential  part  of  him,  is  under  the  power 
of  death.  Yet,  we  do  assert,  that  the  souls  of  the 
godly  are  now  in  a state:  of  felicity,  and  that  they  are 
in  possession  of  tranquillity  and  joy,  in  the  presence 
of  the  Lord  ; and  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  wicked 
are  miserable  immediately  after  death. 

4.  The  rev.  Schmucker,  on  the  Revelation,  page  56, 
has  the  following  observations : — The  place  into  which, 
the  departed  spirits  come,  immediately  after  death,  is 
called  Hades.  It  is  the  Sheol  of  the  Hebrews,  the 
place  of  shades,  of  dawning  light,  of  longing  and  si- 
lent solicitude,  the  place  of  the  general  congregation 
of  the  dead,  the  court -yard  of  eternal  justice,  where 
Christ  appeared  in  the  assembly  of  departed  spirits. 
In  this  Hades,  is  the  Tartarus  of  the  wicked,  andth-3- 
Elysium  of  the  good.  See  Dr.  Young’s  works- 


L 2' 


1S3 


ARTICLE  XVIII. 

OF  FREE  WILL. 


We  teach,  that  man  hath,  in  some  respects 
a free  will,  to  live  outwardly  honest,  and  to 
choose  among  those  things,  which  reason 
comprehends  ; but  without  grace  and  the 
help  and  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  he 
hath  not  the  power  to  become  pleasing  to 
God,  nor  to  fear  God,  nor  to  believe,  nor  to 
put  the  inherited  bad  desires  out  of  his  heart ; 
for  this  can  only  be  done  through  the  Holy 
Ghost,  who  is  given  by  means  of  God’s 
word ; for  Paul  saith  1 Cor.  ii.  14,  The  natu- 
ral man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him,  See. 

And  that  it  may  be  known,  that  no  new 
doctrine  is  taught  in  this  particular,  we  quote 
the  plain  words  of  Augustine,  concerning 
free  will : We  confess  and  hold,  saith  he, 
that  there  is  in  all  men,  a free  will,  for  they 
certainly  all  have  natural  inherited  under- 
standing and  reason,  not  however,  that  they 


•are  enabled  to  treat  with  God,  or’truly  to  love 
or  fear  him,  but  only  in  outward  works  of 
this  life,  have  they  liberty  and  power  to  choose 
good  or  bad. 

In  the  Lutheran  catechism,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing in  the  explanation  of  the  third  article 
of  the  creed  : — I believe,  that  I cannot,  mere- 
ly by  my  own  reason  or  other  natural  powers* 
believe  or  come  to  Jesus  Christ  my  Lord  ; 
but  that  the  Holy  Spirit  hath  called  me  by 
the  gospel,  enlightened  me  by  his  gifts,  and 
sanctified  and  preserved  me  in  the  true  faith* 
in  like  manner,  as  he  calls,  gathers,  enligh- 
tens and  sanctifies,  the  whole  Christian  church 
on  earth,  &c. 

NOTES. 

From  other  writings  of  Luther  and  his  follower^ 
as  well  modern  as  ancient,  we  find  the  following  to  be 
the  accepted  opinion.  - 

1.  Man  is  a free  moral  agent ; he  is  not  a mere 
machine,  else  lie  could  not  be  accountable  for  his  ac- 
tions. 


1M 


2.  His  understanding  however  is  become  darken- 
ed, and  his  will  depraved  ; and,  by  his  own  powers, 
he  never  would  have  been  able  even  to  find  out  tile 
way  to  salvation,  much  less  to  save  himself. 

3.  God  however  pitied  him,  and  sent  his  Son  into 
the  world  to  save  him,  to  enlighten  him  by  his  gospel, 
and  to  prescribe  proper  means  for  his  salvation  ; at 
the  same  time,  he  offers  to  him  the  assistance  of  his 
Holy  Spirit,  and  this  Spirit  is  continually  striving 
with  him. 

4.  Now  man,  as  a moral  agent  can  make  use  of  these 
means,  if  he  pleases,  or  he  may  reject  them — he  may 
attend  to  the  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  he  may 
resist  them  ; if  he  reject  and  resist  them,  he  cannot 
be  saved,  but  it  will  be  his  own  fault ; but  if  he  makes 
use  of  them  to  the  best  of  his  abilities,  and  attends  to 
the  workings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  his  heart,  he  will  first 
lie  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  his  sinful  and  depra- 
ved state — he  will,  secondly, be  led  to  the  Saviour-— 
he  will,  thirdly,  obtain  new  dispositions  and  strength 
to  walk  the  ways  of  God,  with  zeal,  steadiness  and 
delight — and,  fourthly,  if  he  continues  faithful  to  the 
end,  he  will  be  saved.  Whosoever  hath,  saith  our 
Saviour,  Math,  xiii,  12,  to  him  shall  be  given,  and  he 
shall  have  in  abundance,  &c.  i.  e.  he  that  makes 
good  use  of  his  powers  and  faculties,  and  of  the  means 
®f  grace,  which  God  hath  given  him,  shall  obtain  more 
grass  ; but  he,  that  doth  no  t make  good  use  of  them. 


cannot  expect  that  God  should  do  more  for  him  ; for 
if  he  be  not  faithful  in  smaller  things,  how  can  he  ex- 
pect that  God  will  entrust  him  with  greater  bles- 
sings. 

The  following  sentiments  of  a devout  and  pious 
divine,  may  throw  some  light  on  the  subject  : “ The 
great  plea,  that  men  do  generally  make,  for  the  wick- 
edness or  carelessness  of  their  lives,  is  this  : that  it 
really  is  not  in  their  power  to  live  up  to  such  a state 
of  holiness  and  virtue,  as  the  law  of  God  obligeth 
them  to  do.  Conversion  is  the  work  of  God,  and 
cannot  be  wrought  by  a man’s  self,  and  therefore  till 
God  shall  please  to  come  upon  them  with  an  irresis- 
tible  power  of  his  holy  Spirit,  they  must  be  content- 
ed to  live  as  they  do,  nay,  they  must  unavoidably 
live  so.”  Now,  it  is  readily  granted,  that  without 
God’s  grace,  no  man  can  do  any  thing,  and  we  grant 
likewise,  that  it  is  very  probable  their  circumstan- 
ces maybe  such,  that  it  is  not  morally  possible,  on  a 
sudden,  to  live  as  they  ought  to  do  ; for  their  bad 
principles  are  really  more  powerful  than  their  good 
ones  ; but  yet,  in  the  mean  time  we  must  tell  thenij, 
that  they  are  not  mere  stocks  and  stones.  How 
much  reason  soever  they  have  to  complain  of  the  in- 
firmity and  degeneracy  of  their  natures,  yet  some 
things  they  can  do  toward  the  bettering  of  them  ; for 
instance,  though  they  cannot,  on  a sudden,  conquer 
the  inward  bent  and  inclination  of  their  minds,  so  as 
to  hate  all  sin,  and  to  delight  in  virtue  ; yet  they 


IS* 

must  confess,  that  they  have  a pewer  over  their  out- 
ward actions — they  can  as  well  dirertstheir  feet  to- 
wards the  church,  as  to  the  house  of  gaming,  or  drink- 
ing* or  lewdness — their  eyes  will  serve  them  as  well 
to  look  upon  a bible,  or  a serious  discourse  about  re- 
ligion, as  to  read  a scurrilous  and  prophane  book — it 
is  as  much  in  their  power  to  yield  their  ears  to  the 
reasonable  advice  of  their  sober  friends,  as  to  the  mad 
harangues  of  the  dissolute  company  they  keep. — 
These  things  they  certainly  can  do  if  they  will,  and 
they  can  do  even  more  than  this — they  may  give 
themselves  time  to  consider  and  think  of  what  they 
read,  or  what  is  said  to  them,  or  what  their  own  ex- 
perience or  observation  of  things  will  suggest  to  their 
minds — and  they  can  further  add  to  their  considera- 
tion, their  prayers  to  Almighty  God  to  direct  them, 
to  assist  them,  and  to  strengthen  them.  And  though 
it  is  certain,  that  all  this,  without  God’s  special  grace, 
will  not  be  effectual  for  their  conversion,  yet,  if  they 
will  but  do  as  much  as  this  comes  to,  we  can  assure 
them,  that  in  time  they  shall  have  this  special  grace, 
•which  they  now  wrnnt.  In  the  same  proportion,  that 
they  use  and  employ  those  gifts  and  powers,  which 
they  at  present  have,  God  will  increase  and  enlarge 
them;  for  to  him  that  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given.5, 
l*,c. — Duty  of  Man , p.  20. 


ARTICLE  XIX. 

OF  THE  CAUSE  OF  SIN. 

Of  the  cause  of  sin,  we  teach,  that  although 
Almighty  God  hath  create  d and  doth  preserve 
all  nature,  yet  we  believe,  that  the  perverse 
will,  produces  sin  in  all  the  wicked  and  des- 
pisers  of  God  ; it  being  also  the  devil’s  will, 
to  turn  them  from  God,  to  that  which  is  bad, 
as  soon  as  God  takes  off  his  hands  from  them. 


ARTICLE  XX. 

OF  FAITH  AND  GOOD  WORKS, 

We  have  been  falsely  charged,  with  for- 
bidding good  works  ; for  our  writings  on  the 
ten  commandments  and  our  other  books 
prove,  that  we  have  given  good  and  useful 
instruction  and  exhortation,  as  to  really  good 
works,  which  in  former  times,  were  seldom 


«ss 


taught,  as  they  were  only  preaching  up  child- 
ish unnecessary  works,  as  rosaries,  worship 
-of  saints,  pilgrimages,  fastings,  festivals,  &x. 

And  whereas  the  doctrine  of  faith  has  not 
for  a long  time  been  truly  taught,  but  all  were 
preaching  up  the  doctrine  of  works,  we  there- 
fore give  the  following  instruction:  That 
our  works  cannot  reconcile  us  to  God,  and 
obtain  grace ; but  this  is  obtained  only  thro’ 
faith,  if  we  believe  that  for  Christ’s  sake,  our 
sins  are  forgiven,  who  is  the  only  Mediator  to 
reconcile  the  Father.  He,  therefore,  who 
thinks  to  do  this  through  works,  despises 
Christ  and  seeketh  his  own  way  to  God,  con- 
trary to  the  gospel.  This  doctrine  of  faith,  is 
clearly  taught  in  the  epistles  of  Paul,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  2d 
chap,  where  we  read,  “ By  grace  ye  are  sav- 
ed, through  faith,  and  that  not  of  yourselves, 
it  is  the  gift  of  God.” — — 

And  although  this  doctrine  may  be  despis- 
ed by  inconsiderate  men,  yet  it  is  certain, 
that  it  is  very  consoling  and  salutary  to  the 
humble  and  terrified  conscience ; for  consci- 


ence  cannot  come  to  rest  and  peace  through 
works,  but  only  through  faith,  if  we  can  as- 
suredly conclude,  that  we  have  a merciful 
God  for  Christ's  sake,  as  Paul  saith,  Rom.  v. 
“ Being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with 
God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.” 

We  also  give  instruction,  that  we  do  not 
speak  of  such  a faith,  as  even  the  devils  and 
the  ungodly  have,  who  likewise  believe  the 
history  of  Christ’s  suffering  and  resurrection 
from  the  dead  ; but  we  speak  of  that  faith, 
which  lays  hold  of  the  promises  of  God,  and 
works  by  love  and  good  works. 

We  therefore  teach,  that  good  works  shall 
and  must  be  done,  not  for  the  purpose  of 
trusting  in  them,  or  of  meriting  grace  by 
them,  but  for  God’s  sake  and  to  the  praise  of 
God. — And  it  is  faith  which  enables  the  heart 
to  do  works  really  good. - — — 

Wherefore,  the  doctrine  of  faith  is  not  to 
be  inveighed  against,  as  if  it  forbid  good 
works  ; it  is  much  more  to  be  esteemed,  as  it 
teaches  to  do  good  works,  and  offers  assist 
M 


130 


ance,  so  that  we  may  be  able  to  do  good 
works  ; for  without  faith  and  vvithoufTbrist, 
human  nature  and  strength  is  much  too  weak 
to  perform  them.  John  xv. 

NOTES. 

1.  With  true  faith,  there  is  always  connected  obe- 
dience to  the  will  of  God  ; for  faith,  saith  James  ii. 
17,  if  it  hath  not  good  works  is  dead,  being  alone. 
And  Paul,  in  his  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  v.  9,  saith  : 
Christ  being  made  perfect,  became  the  author  of  eter- 
nal salvation  unto  all  them  that  obey  him.  Lutheran 
Catechism. 

2.  Michaelis,  in  his  Comp.  Theol.  has  this  obser- 
vation : Good  works  are  necessary  to  the  obtaining 
of  eternal  salvation,  not  so  as  to  merit  or  purchase 

it,  but  as  a part  of  the  order  or  way  to  salvation. 

Eternal  life  was  purchased  by  Christ’s  active  and 
passive  obedience  ; but  the  degreeg  of  happiness, 
which  we  are  to  enjoy,  and  the  rewards  which  we  are 
to  expect,  depend  much  on  our  works.  Mat.  vi.  19, 
20,  Luke  xix.  12 — 24. 

3.  We  must  not  teach  of  faith  alone,  saith  Luther, 
or  else  carnally  minded  and  ungodly  men  will  think, 
that  works  are  not  necessary.  We  must  teach  both 
the  doctrine  of  faith  and  of  works  j,  for  this  is  also 


true,  that  God  judges  according  to  our  works,  as  St.- 
Peter  says  : Just  as  you  live,  so  will  your  state  be, 

and  accordingly  will  God  judge  you. And  we 

may  be  assured,  that  there  is  no  true  faith,  where 
there  are  no  good  works,  for  the  works  are  the  fruit 
of  the  tree,  by  which  we  may  see,  where  faith  or  un- 
belief is.  God  will  not  ask  you  in  judgment,  whether 
you  are  called  a Christian,  and  are  baptized,  but  he- 
will  ask,  are  you  a Christian  ? then  show  me,  where 
are  the  fruits  with  which  you  can  prove  your  faith.— 
— — Therefore,  it  is  necessary  to  have  both  faith 

and  obedience  towards  God. 'Fishier s Extracts 

from  the  latter  works  of  Luther. 

4.  Where  there  is  no  terror  on  account  of  the  wrath, 
of  God,  but  pleasure  in  sinful  practices,  there  can  be 
no  faith  ; for  faith  is  to  console  and  enliven  the  terri- 
fied hearts.  Ibidem. 

5.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  hath  commanded  us  t© 
teach  repentance  and  forgiveness  of  sins  in  his  name. 
The  preaching  of  repentance  reproves  and  convinces 
us  of  sin,  and  to  him  who  is  terrified  on  account  of 
his  sins,  the  gospel  preaches  forgiveness  for  Christ’s 
sake,  through  grace,  without  any  merits  of  his  owm 
Such  forgiveness  is  only  obtained  by  faith,  i.  e.  if  we 
believe  the  promise  of  God,  which  promise  is,  that 
he  will  most  assuredly  be  merciful  to  every  penitent 
sinner,  for  Christ's  sake.  Ibidem. 


ARTICLE  XXL 


OF  THE  ADORATION  OF  SAINTS. 

Of  the  adoration  of  saints,  we  teach,  that 
we  should  remember  them,  so  as  to  strength- 
en our  faith,  by  observing  how  God’s  grace 
was  imparted  to  them,  and  how  they  were 
saved  by  faith.  Also,  to  take  an  example  by 
their  good  works,  every  one  according  to  his 

sailing.  — — — But  by  scripture  it  cannot 

be  proved,  that  we  should  call  on  them,  or 
seek  help  front  them  ; for  there  is  one  only 
Conciliator  and  Mediator,  appointed  between 
God  and  man,  Jesus  Christ ; 1 Tim,  ii.  5, 
who  is  the  only  Saviour,  the  only  High  Priest, 
the  only  Propitiation  and  Advocate  before 
God.  Rom.  viii.  3 and  25.  And  he  alone 
hath  promised  to  hear  our  prayers.  Heb.  xi. 
11.  This  is  certainly  the  highest  worship, 
according  to  scripture,  that  we  seek  and  call 
on  the  same.  Jesus  Christ,  in  all  our  needs 
and  concerns.  1 John,  ii.  1 : If  any  man  sin. 
we  have  an  Advocate  with  the  Father,  Jesus 
Christ,  the  righteous. 


CONTAINING 

I HE  DOCTRINE  OF  TIIE  OPERATIONS  OF  TH*> 

HOLY  GHOST, 

AND  OF 

PREDESTINATION. 


OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST. 

The  Holy  Ghost,  proceeding  from  the  Fa- 
ther and  the  Son,  is  of  one  substance,  majes- 
ty and  glory  with  the  Father  and  the  Son. 

He  worketh  on  the  hearts  of  men  by  the 
means  of  grace  and  other  providential  events, 
and  calls,  enlightens  and  sanctifies  them  that 
do  not  resist.  Lutheran  Catechism . 

M 2 


m< 


NOTES. 

The  Holy  Ghost  may  be  resisted,  and  alas  ! hie 
operations  are  too  often  resisted.  He  was  striving 

in  vain  with  man  before  the  delude. -Our  Saviour 

complained  of  the  people  of  Jerusalem,  that  they 
would  not.  Math,  xxiii.  37. — Stephen  said  to  the 
Jews,  Ye  stiffnecked  and  uncircumcised  in  heart  and 
ears,  ye  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  your  fa- 
thers did,  so  do  ye.  Acts  vii.  51.— — And  we  are  call- 
ed upon  not  to  harden  our  hearts— Heb.  iii.  and  not 
to  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  Eph.  iv.  30,, 


OF  PREDESTINATION. 

In  the  Augsburg  confession,  we  find  noth- 
ing of  Predestination  ; because  at  the  time  of 
its  composition,  there  was  no  dispute  about 
this  doctrine.  Godshalc,  it  is  said,  was  the 
first,  who  held  and  taught  an  absolute  decree, 
about  the  year  of  Christ  847  ; he  maintained 
that  God,  from  all  eternity,  had  pre-ordained 
some  to  everlasting  life,  and  others  to  ever- 
lasting punishments  : to  such  whom  he  pre- 
ordained to  life,  hefigave  his  Holy  Spirit  and 


4 


sanctified  them  ; but  with  such,  whom  he 
had  pre-ordained  to  misery,  he  would  have 
nothing  to  do,  because  he  had  determined 
they  should  be  vessels  of  wrath  ; however, 
this  doctrine  was  condemned,  by  several  ec- 
clesiastical councils,  held  in  the  ninth  cen- 
tury. From  that  time  until  the  time  of  refor- 
mation, very  little  was  said  or  written  about 
it;  therefore  Luther  and  his  cotemporaries 
made  no  mention  of  it  in  their  confession  of 
faith.  As  soon  as  Calvin,  however,  revived 
his  doctrine  of.  an  absolute  predestination, 
the  Lutherans  came  forward  to  oppose  it. — - 
Calvin’s  doc  wine  was,  according  to  his  own 
words,  (3d  book,  ch.  xxiv.) C£  Sach  as  God  lias 
created  to  misery  of  life  and  perdition  of  death, 
that  they  should  be  the  organs  of  his  wrath 
«nd  instances  of  severity,  in  order  that  the) 
may  come  to  their  destination,  he  either  de- 
prives of  the  means  to  hear  his  word,  or  ren- 
ders them,  by  the  preaching  of  it,  more  stu- 
pid and  blind.”  Some  of  his  followers  went 
even  so  far  as  to  say,  that  children  were  a- 
mong  the  reprobated,  and  were  suffering  in 
hell  to  promote  the  glory  of  God  ! I With 
this  doctrine  the  Lutherans  never  could  a- 


43§ 


gree  ; for  they  bad  expressly  declared,  iij 
their  confession,  delivered  to  the  diet  at 
Augsburg,  that  Christ  had  offered  up  him- 
self, as  a sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world. 

The  Lutherans,  however,  do  believe  a con- 
ditional  predestination — a predestination  of 
characters,  but  not  of  persons  ; they  say  • 
That  God,  from  eternity,  determined  to  be  - 
stow salvation  on  those,  of  whom  he  foresaw, 
that  they  would  persevere  in  their  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus,  unto  the  end  ; and  to  inflict 
punishments  on  those,  who  should  continue 
in  their  unbelief  and  disobedience,  and  resist 
his  divine  operations  unto  the  end.  So  that 
election  was  conditional,  and  reprobation  in 
like  manner,  the  result  of  foreseen  infidelity 
and  persevering  wickedness,  and  therefore, 
had  no  influence  whatever,  on  the  salvation 
or  damnation  of  sinners,  and  was  not  to  be  at- 
tributed to  any  pre-ordination  or  decree  of 
God. — —-Some,  however,  do  not  even  go  so 
far  ; they  say,  that  these  doctrines  only  per- 
plex the  minds  of  the  unlearned — that  it  is 
enough  for  us  to  know,  that  every  person  can 


iS7 


be  saved,  if  he  makes  good  use  of  the  means 
©f  grace,  attends  to  the  operations  of  the  Ho- 
ly Spirit,  and  lays  hold  of  the  merits  of  Christ 
by  faith.* 

NOTES. 

1.  The  passages  of  scripture  quoted  in  favor  of  an 
absolute  decree,  recorded  in  the  epistle  of  Paul  to  the 
Romans  and  Ephesians,  are  considered  by  the  Luthe- 
rans as  only  relating  to  temporal  and  spiritual  bles- 
sings, to  external  privileges  and  advantages  in  the 
Church  of  God,  in  this  world.  Thus,  were  the  Jews 
called  a chosen  people,  because  .God  made  choice  of 
them  to  be  more  immediately  attached  to  his  worship 
-and  service — He  delivered  them  from  the  state  of 
bondage  and  idolatry  in  Egypt  ; and  therefore,  they 
are  said  to  be  delivered,  saved,  bought,  purchased 
and  redeemed — He  invited  them  to  partake  of  the 
honor  and  happiness  of  his  people,  and  therefore  they 
are  called  his  chosen  ; but  all  these  privileges  and 
honors,  do  not  import  an  absolute  final  state  of  happi- 
ness. Although  the  Jews  were  considered  the  chosen, 
the  elect  of  God,  they  were  not  all  saved — thousands 
of  them  were  cut  off  in  their  unbelief  and  disobedt- 

* The  question  of  dispute  between  the  Lutherans  and  Cal- 
vinists is:  “An  electio  facta  sit  ex  absoluto  decreto,  sine 
ullo  respectu  ad  ordinem  salutis — vel  an  electio  facta  sit  ex 
conditional!  decreto  cum  respectu  ad  ordinem  salutis  ” — The 
Calvinists  maintain  the  former,  the  Lutherans  the  lattsV 
opinion; 


©nee — their  election,  therefore,  had  no  particular  ab- 
solute reference  to  their  eternal  salvation. 

Thus  it  is  with  the.  Christians.  They  have  obtain- 
ed many  great  outward  privileges  and  benefits,  of 
which  the  heathen  world  is  yet  deprived,  and  there- 
fore they  are  called  the  chosen,  the  elect  of  God  ; but 
this  is  not  an  election  by  an  absolute  decree,  and  pur- 
pose of  God  to  eternal  life  : for  thousands  of  those, 
who  enjoy  these  privileges,  ruin  themselves  by  unbe- 
lief and  disobedience. 

2.  The  Rev.  W.  Paley  has  the  following  observa- 
tions on  this  subject,  in  a sermon,  preached  on  ii.  Pe- 
ter, iii.  15,10:  “ In  opposition  to  the  Jews,  who 
were  so  much  offended  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
to  the  Gentiles,  St.  Paul  maintains  with  great  indus- 
try that  it  w'as  God  Almighty’s  intention,  from  the 
first,  to  substitute,  at  a fit  season,  into  the  place  of 
the  rejected  Israelites,  a society  of  men  taken  indiffe- 
rently out  of  all  nations  under  heaven,  and  admit- 
ted to  be  the  people  of  God,  upon  easier  and  more 
comprehensive  terms — this  is  expressed  in  the  epistle 
to  the  Ephesians,  chap,  i, 9,  10,  as  follows  : ‘having 
made  known  to  us  the  mystery  of  his  will,  according 
to  his  good  pleasure,  which  he  hath  purposed  in  him- 
self, that  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times, 
he  might  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ.’ 
The  scheme  of  collecting  such  a society,  was,  wliat- 
God  foreknew  before  the  foundation  of  the  world— 


439 


wlial  lie  did  predestinate — was  the  eternal  purpose 
which  he  purposed  in  Christ  Jesus  ; and  by  conse- 
quence,this  society  in  their  collective  capacity, were  the 
objects  of  this  foreknowledge,  predestination  and  pur- 
pose ; that  is,  in  the  language  of  the  apostles,  they  were 
they  whom  he  did  foreknow  ; * they  whom  he  did  pre- 
destinate— they  were  chosen  in  Christ  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world  ; f they  were  elect  accor- 
ding to  the  foreknowledge  of  God  the  Father,  j This 
doctrine  hath  nothing  in  it  harsh  or  obscure — but 
what  have  we  made  of  it  ? — The  rejection  of  the 
Jews,  and  the  adopting  of  another  community  into 
their  place,  composed  an  object  of  great  magnitude 
in  the  attention  of  the  inspired  writers,  who  under- 
stood and  observed  it.  This  event,  which  engaged 
so  much  the  thoughts  of  the  apostle  is  now  only  read 
of,  and  hardly  that — the  reality  and  the  importance 
of  it  are  little  known  or  attended  to — losing  sight 
therefore,  of  the  proper  occasion  of  these  expressions, 
yet  willing  after  our  fashion,  to  adapt  them  to  our- 
selves, and  finding  nothing  else  in  our  circumstances 
that  suited  with  them,  we  have  learnt  at  length  to 
apply  them  to  the  final  destiny  of  individuals,  at  the 
day  of  judgment ; and  upon  this  foundation,  has  been 
erected  a doctrine  which  lays  the  ax  at  once  to  the 
root  of  all  religion,  that  of  an  absolute  appointment 
to  salvation  or  perdition,  independent  of  ourselves, 
or  any  thing  we  can  do  : and,  what  is  extraordinary, 


* Rom.  viii.  29. 


Eph.  i.  4." 


4 1 Peter,  i.  2 


340 


those  very  arguments  and  expressions,  which  the  a« 
postle  employed  to  vindicate  the  impartial  mercies 
of  God,  against  the  narrow  and  excluding  claims  of 
Jewish  prejudice,  have  been  interpreted,  to  establish 
a dispensation,  the  most  arbitrary  and  partial,  that 
*ould  be  devised.” 


Part  III. 

THE  DISCIPLINE 

OF  THE 

C fl  u R C H. 

Let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order. 

Paul.  1 Cor.  xiv.  40. 


N 


THE  DISCIPLINE,  &c. 


CHAP.  I. 

OF  THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

The  general  direction  of  the  Church  ini 
Pennsylvania  and  the  adjoining  states,  is  left 
to  a Synr  1 and  Ministerium,  which  bodies 
meet  once  every  year.  The  Synod  is  com- 
posed of  ministers,  and  an  equal  number  of 
laymen,  chosen  as  deputies,  by  the  vestries 
of  their  respective  congregations  ; this  body 
directs  the  external  affairs  of  the  church. — - 
The  Ministerium  is  composed  of  ministers 
only,  and  regulates  the  internal  or  spiritual 
affairs,  such  as  judging  in  controversies  re- 
specting doctrine,  and  examining,  licensing 
and  ordaining  ministers,  &e.  Its  session  be-. 


< 


gins  immediately  after  the  adjournment  of 
the  Synod.  Both  these  bodies  are,  in  some 
degree,  under  the  inspection  of  a Senior  and. 
President.,  The  Senior  is  considered  as  a Fa- 
ther, from  whom  advice  and  exhortation  is 
willingly  received,  but  has  no  particular 
powers.  The  President  presides  at  the  Sy- 
nod and  Ministerium,  appoints  committees, 
performs  the  ordinations,  with  the  assistance 
of  two  or  more  Pastors,  signs  the  licences 
and  ordinations,  examines  and  licences  appli- 
cants ad  interim,  and  in  weighty  matters, 
calls  together  special  meetings.  He  is  elect- 
ed every  year,  as  soon  as  the  Synod  is  orga- 
nized, and  can  only  be  re-elected  for  three 
successive  years. 

The  Synod  is  also  divided  into  particular 
districts,  which  are  authorised  to  hold  dis- 
trict meetings,  called  special  conferences  ; 
but  it  is  not  considered  essentially  necessary 
for  them  to  meet,  unless  they  have  business 
in  their  district,  to  decide  upon. 

In  every  congregation,  the  vestry,  compo- 
sed of  the  minister  (trustees)  elders  and  war- 


de'ns,  has  the  power  of  regulating  their  own 
affairs  and  settling  their  own  disputes,  andther 
parties  considering  themselves  aggrieved, 
may  appeal  either  to  a special  conference,  or* 
to  the  general  annual  Synod, 

From  the  foregoing  statement,  we  find,, 
that  there  are  three  judicatories  -1.  The 
vestry  of  the  congregation— 2.  The  district 
or  special  conference — and  3.  The  general 
synod.  From  the  decision  of  this  last  body, _ 
there  is  no  appeal. 


CHAP,  II. 


OF  THE  MINISTRY. 

The  Lutherans  make  no  distinction  be- 
tween Pastors  and  Bishops.  They  believe, 
that  every  Pastor  is  to  be  considered  an  in- 
spector or  bishop  of  his  particular  congrega- 
tion, He  is  called  Pastor,  because  he  feeds-, 
N 2 


146 


the  flock  with  spiritual  food.  He  is  called 
Minister,  because  he  serves  Christ  in  the 
Church.  He  is  called  a Presbyter  or  Elder, 
because  it  is  his  duty  to  be  grave  and  prudent, 
and  to  govern  well  in  the  house  or  family  of 
Christ.  He  is  called  an  Ambassador,  be- 
cause he  is  set  to  declare  the  will  of  God  to 
sinners.  And  he  is  also  called  a Steward,  be- 
cause he  dispenses  the  manifold  graces  of 
God,  and  the  ordinances  instituted  by  Christ. 

“ It  was  the  opinion  of  St.  Jerome,  that  E- 
piscopi  and  Presbyteri  (Bishops  and  Elders) 
are  not  to  be  considered  different  persons  or 
offices,  but  that  all  ordained  Presbyters  are 
/also  Bishops  and  Priests  ; and  he  quotes  the 
passage  of  Paul  to  Titus,  i.  5,  where  it  is 
written,  I left  you  in  Crete,  that  thou  should- 
est  ordain  elders  in  every  city  ; and  in  the 
yth  verse,  he  calls  these  elders,  Bishops. 
Even  Peter  and  John  call  themselves  Pres- 
byters or  Priests. 

But  one  is  chosen  (continues  Jerome)  as 
Inspector  or  Superintendant,  to  avoid  dissen- 
iions,  that  preachers  might  not  go  about  to 


447 


Breed  disturbances,  by  endeavoring  to  draw 
churches  to  themselves.  At  Alexandria, 
says  he,  from  the  time  of  Mark  the  evange- 
list, to  the  time  of  Esdras  and  Dionisius,  the 
Presbyters  always  chose  one  of  their  number 
as  their  head,  whom  they  called  Episcopus, 
just  as  an  army  chooses  one  of  their  number 
for  their  chieftain.  In  the  same  manner  did 
the  Deacons  choose  one  from  among  them- 
selves, as  a superintendant,  wham  they  call-, 
ed  Archdeacon.” 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  distinction  made 
between  Bishops  and  Presbyters,  is  nothing 
but  a human  ordinance.  Art.  of  Smalfcaldeit, 

NOTES. 

1.  When  a young  man  offers  himself  for  the  minis-' 
try,  and  comes  well  recommended,  he  is  examined 
by  a committee  of  Pastors  $ if  he  be  found  to  have  6 
sufficient  education  and  theological  knowledge,  he 
ontains  the  licence  of  a Candidate,  and  is  intrusted 
with  the  charge  of  such  congregations,  as  may  be  in- 
clined to  call  him.  If  he  be  found  deficient  as  to  ed- 
ucation, but  yet  truly  pious,  and  capable  of  giving 
teligious  instruction,  and  produces  a call  from  a cob- 


gregation,  which  is  desirous  of  Having  him  for  their 
clergyman,  he  obtains  a licence  as  Catechet,  and  is 
placed  in  that  congregation  to  instruct  the  youth,  and 
to  preach  the  Gospel,  under  the  inspection  of  a neigh- 
boring Pastor,  whose  duty  it  is  to  confirm  and  admin- 
ister the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord’s  supper  for  him,  as 
also  to  give  him  every  necessary  theological  instruc- 
tion. 

These  licentiates  or  probationers  have  yearly  to 
write  two  sermons,  and  keep  a journal  of  their  offici- 
al duties,  which  are  to  be  delivered  to  the  Ministeri- 
um  for  inspection.  In  the  course  of  one  or  two 
years,  if  no  complaint  as  to  doctrine  or  conduct,  be^ 
lodged  against  them,  they  are  again  examined  and 
may  be  promoted.  The  Catechet  may  become  a candi- 
date—-and  the  candidate  may  be  ordained. 

2 A few  years  ago,  the  Lutheran  ministerium  of 
Pennsylvania,  introduced  a new  order  of  the  minis- 
try,  called  Deacons.  Observing  that  the  number  of 
congregations  increased  to  such  a degree,  that  they 
could  not  be  supplied  with  regularly  educated  clergy- 
men,— and  that  some  congregations  were  willing  and 
desirous  of  having  certain  pious  and  worthy  men, 
who  had  occasionally  exhorted  them  in  their  destitute 
state,  established  as  their  clergymen  but  fearing, 
lest  by  ordaining  such  men  Pastors,  they  might  les- 
sen the  encouragement  to  a proper  study  of  theology 
and  the  languages,  they  thought  it  expedient  to  in- 


1 


14$ 

trodiice  the  order  of  Deacons.  They  humbly  con- 
ceive, that  this  order  was  found  among  the  primitive 
Christians $ for  Paul,  in  his  epistles,  speaks  of  Bishops 
and  Deacons,  who  were  to  be  ordained  by  laying  oa 
of  hands.  1 Tim.  iii.  and  Phil.i.  1. 

These  deacons  are  empowGxed  to  preach  and  to 
perforin  all  ministerial  acts,  in  the  congregations 
committed  to  their  charge  ; but  cannot  vote  in  mat- 
ters of  controversy,  respecting  doctrine  : neither  can 
they  be  elected  to  any  office  cf  the  Synod  or  Minis- 
terium. 

These  regulations  have  been  made  for  the  purpose 
of  opening  the  door  for  pious  and  worthy  men,  who 
had  no  opportunity  to  obtain  a liberal  education  and 
may  nevertheless,  be  very  useful  in  the  church  ; and 
at  the  same  time,  to  give  encouragement  to  a proper 
study  of  theology  and  the  languages,  for  such  only 
can  become  Pastors,  who  have  had  a regular  and  suf- 
£cieat  education. 


• - ar^g.  <© 


CHAP.  Ill 


<DF  THE  FORMS  OF  PUBLIC  WORSHIP*- 
LITURGY, 

Liturgy,  denotes  all  the  ceremonies  in 
general,  belonging  to  divine  service.  The 
word  comes  from  the  Greek,  Leitourgia , and 
means  service  or  public  ministry. 

Ail  who  have  written  on  Liturgies  agree,, 
that  m the  primitive  days,  divine  service  was 
extremely  simple,  and  consisted  of  a small 
number  of  ceremonies  and  prayers  ; but  by 
degrees  the  ceremonies  increased,  and  new 
prayers  were  added,  so  as  to  make  the  service 
more  solemn  and  venerable  to  the  people. 
At  length,  things  were  carried  to  such  a 
pitch,  that  regulation  became  necessary,  and 
it  was  found  proper,  to  put  the  service  and. 
the  manner  of  performing  it,  into  writing, 
and  this  was  called  Liturgy.  See  Cyclopedia;. 

The  Lutherans  believe,  that  every  synod 
or  general  assembly  of  divines.,  has  a right  tr*. 


151 


make  regulations  as  to  their  religious  ser- 
vice, provided  they  be  not  contrary  to  the 
gospel.  They  hold,  however,  that  the  service 
should  be  as  simple  as  possible— that  the 
prayers  should  be  but  few,  and  worded  in 
such  a manner,  that  the  lowest  capacities  may 
be  able  to  understand  them — that  suitable 
portions  of  scripture  should  be  read,  at  least 
once  a day,  during  public  worship— and  that 
Christian  hymns  of  thanksgiving,  confession, 
petition,  &c.  should  be  sung  as  well  as 
psalms. 

Public  worship  is  at  present  regulated  and. 
conducted  in  the  following  order 

The  beginning  is  made  by  a few  passages 
of  scripture,  or  by  a short  ejaculation,  and  by 
singing  a hymn,— 

Prayers  are  then  read,  consisting  of  con- 
fession of  sins— praise  and  thanksgiving- 
petition — and  intercession  ; or  the'  minister 
may  pray  extempore,  — 


152 


A portion  of  scripture  is  read,  which  may 
be  either  the  gospel  and  the  epistle  of  the  day, 
or  any  other  portion  suited  to  the  occasion,, 
and  relating  to  the  subject,  on  which  •'  . ser- 
mon is  to  be  preached. — Another  hymn  is 
sung. — - 

Then  the  sermon  is  preached,  which 
should  not  take  up  more  than  three  quarters 
of  an  hour.  Before  sermon  a short  prayer 
■may  be  offered  up,  but  after  sermon  it  is  con- 
sidered necessary  to  pray. — Another  hymn  is 
sung,  during  which,  or  before  which, the  alms 
are  collected.  The  congregation  is  dismis- 
sed with  the  benediction.  In  some  congre- 
gations a doxology  is  sung  after  the  benedic- 
tion. 

NOTE. 

The  particular  prayers  prescribed  for  public  wor- 
ship, the  form  for  baptism,  the  administration  of  the 
Lord’s  supper,  marriage  &c.  may  be  found  in  the  Lit- 
Urgy  annexed  to  the  Lutheran  Hymn-book. 


108 


CHAP.  IV. 

OF  CATECHISING  AND  INSRUCTION  OF 
YOUTH. 

The  Lutheran  Church  considers  it  of  great 
^se,  that  there  should  be  a school  in  each 
congregation  under  the  inspection  of  the  ves- 
try, in  which  not  only  reading  and  writing 
and  other  necessary  sciences,  but  also  the 
fundamental  articles  of  religion  be  taught. 

It  is  also  considered  necessary  to  catechise 
the  children  and  young  people  publicly  in  the 
congregation  on  Sunday,  as  often  as  it  can  be 
done  ; and  it  is  believed  that  the  seeds  of  re- 
ligion, thus  sown  into  the  heart,  will  always 
bring  forth  more  or  less  good  fruit. 

It  is  also  the  duty  of  the  clergyman,  every 
year  or  two,  to  invite  the  young  people  of  the 
congregation  to  attend  a course  of  lectures, 
on  the  doctrines  of  faith  and  morality—  this 
generally  takes  up  about  seven  weeks.— 
Those  that  have  obtained  a competent  know- 
ledge of  religion,  and  seem  to  be  seriousk' 
O 


engaged  about  their  soul's  salvation,  ate  then 
desired  to  step  forward,  and  make  a public 
confession  of  their  faith,  and  to  confirm  their 
baptismal  vows.  Such  as  accept  of  the  in- 
vitation are  then  publicly  examined  and  con- 
firmed, and  as  soon  as  the  Lord’s  Supper  is 
administered,  they  become  communicants. 


CHAP.  y. 


OF  CONFIRMATION. 

By  confirmation  we  mean  a solemn  renew- 
al and  ratification  of  our  baptismal  vow,  ac- 
companied by  prayer,  and  the  laying  on  of 
the  hands  of  the  pastor  of  the  congregation. 

That  it  is  necessary,  in  some  way  or  other, 
to  renew  and  ratify  our  baptismal  vow,  and 
to  dedicate  ourselves  to  God,  must  be  evi- 
dent to  every  reflecting  mind.  When  we 
were  baptised,  our  parents  or  sponsors  dedi- 
cated us  to  God — they  did  it  in  our  names. 


and  as.  soon  as  we  come  to  the  years  of  sense 
and  discretion,  we  ought  to  do  it  ourselves, 
if  we  wish  to  be  considered  Christians  ; for  if 
we  do  not  renew  and  ratify  this  vow  and  de- 
dication, we  snow  by  our  conduct,  that  we 
are  not  agreed,  and  do  not  consent  to  the 
vows  and  promises,  which  they  made  for  us 
—that  we  will  not  be  bound  by  that  covenant 
with  God— that  we  do  not  wish  to  be  follow- 
ers of  Jesus,  nor  members  of  the  Christian 
church.  He  therefore,  who  wishes,  that  his 
baptismal  vow  should  stand,  should,  in  our 
humble  opinion,  voluntarily  and  publicly- 
come  forward  and  renew,  ratify  and  confirm 
the  same,  either  before  the  congregation  at 
large,  or  before  the  proper  officers  of  the 
church. 

The  promises  made  by  your  parents  and 
sponsors,  (saith  Dr.  Abercrombie  in  bis  lec- 
tures on  the  episcopal  catechism)  that  you 
should  embrace  and  perform  your  part  of 
this  covenant,  are  to  be  assumed  by  you  in 
this  holy  ordinance  of  confirmation,  when 
you  arrive  at  an  age  capable  of  understanding 
its-nature. 


156 


The  holy  rite  of  confirmation,  it  is  believ- 
ed, is  derived  from  the  practice  of  the^apos- 
iles,  and  was  customary  in  the  primitive 
church.  The  following  passages  show  that 
it  was  practised  by  the  apostles  : Acts  viii. 
14, — Acts  xix.  6-^-Heb.  vi.  2.  In  this  last 
passage,  Paul  considers  confirmation,  or  the 
laying  on  of  hands,  as  one  of  the  fundamental 
rites  of  the  church. 

The  authorities  of  the  Fathers  of  the  church 
are  the  following : 

Tertullian,  who  lived  about  eighty  years 
after  St.  John,  tells  us,  that  after  baptism  suc- 
ceeds the  laying  on  of  hands,  and  by  prayer 
calling  for  the  Holy  Ghost.  De  Bapt.  ch.  &. 
St.  Cyprian,  who  lived  about  sixty  years  af- 
ter Tertullian,  when  speaking  of  the  Samari- 
tan converts  and  of  confirmation,  adds  : The 
same  thing  is  practised  among  us,  that  they 
who  are  baptised,  are  presented  to  the  gover- 
nors of  the  church,  that  by  their  prayers  and 
imposition  of  hands,  they  may  obtain  the  Ho- 
ly Ghost,  and  be  perfected  with  the  seal  of 
Christ.  Ep.  73. 


457 


& 


St.  Jerome,  speaking  of confirmation,  says, 
* * If  you  ask  where  it  is  written,  we  answer, 
it  is  written  in  the  acts  of  the  apostles  ; but  if 
there  were  no  scripture  authority  for  it,  yet 
the  consent  of  all  the  world  in  this  particular 
is  instead  of  a command.”  Dial  advers . Lu« 
cif. 

The  Jews  had  a ceremony  similar  to  our 
rite  of  confirmation  ; for  they  brought  their 
children  before  the  congregation,  when  they 
were  thirteen  years  old — -they  were  then  ex- 
amined as  to  the  general  principles  of  their 
religion,  solemnly  took  upon  themselves  the 
observation  of  the  law,  and  were  declared  sons 
of  the  precept.  Buxtorf  Syria g,  Jud.  ch.  7, 

Even  among  the  heathens,  the  dictates  of 
reason  or  the  light  of  nature,  prescribed  a si- 
milar institution.  Among  the  Persians  and 
the  Athenians,  See.  the  youth  at  a certain  age, 
were  required  to  take  a solemn  oath,  to  des- 
pise all  filthy  lucre,  bodily  pleasure  and  vain 
glory,  and  to  be  emulous  of  virtue,  to  honor 
their  parents,  to  speak  the  truth,  to  do  good,, 
and  to  defend  and  reverence  the  religion  in 
which  they  were  born. 

O 2 


158 


From  these  authorities,  our  church  hath 
been  induced  to  retain  this  rite  of  confirma- 
tion. However,  we  do  not  consider  it  a sa- 
crament, because  it  was  not  ordained  by 
Christ  himself , but  we  do  consider  it  an 
useful  and  edifying  custom,  from  which  ma- 
ny can  date  the  beginning  of  their  real  con- 
version to  God. 

In  this,  the  following  named  churches 
agree  with  us  : The  Church  of  the  United 
Brethren — the  Episcopal  Church — the  Ger- 
man and  Holland  Reformed  Churches — and 
the  Reformed  Church  of  Swisserland. 


CHAP  VL 

OF  ADMISSION  OF  MEMBERS  TO  THE  COM- 
MUNION. 

Such  only  should  be  admitted  to  the  com- 
munion, who  have  attended  a course  of  lec- 
tures on  the  catechism,  and  who  have  been 
confirmed ; however,  as  some  adults  have 


15S 


net  the  time  to  attend  these  lectures,  the  ves- 
try may  nevertheless  admit  them,  if,  upon 
examination,  they  are  found  to  have  a com- 
petent knowledge  of  the  essential  doctrines 
of  religion,  and  appear  to  be  sober,  steady 
and  anxious  to  dedicate  themselves  to  the 
service  of  the  Lord. 


CHAP.  VII. 

OF  FESTIVAL  DAYS. 

There  is  no  day  under  tne  Gospel  CGijb, 
manded  to  be  kept  holy,  except  the  Lord’s 
day,  which  is  the  Christian  sabbath.  Never- 
theless, the  Lutheran  church  considers  it  use- 
ful to  celebrate  such  days,  as  were  signalised 
by  the  glorious  and  important  events,  that 
proclaim  the  celestial  mission  of  the  Saviour., 
and  the  divine  authority  of  his  holy  religion, 
Mosheim  vol.  4* 


i60. 


The  following  days  are  therefore  kept  a? 
festivals  : 

1 . Christmas,  in  commemoration  of  the 

birth  of  Christ,  j ■ ' , , , , 

2.  Good  Friday,  in  commemoration  of  his 

qrucifixion  and  death,  i-  >4,:  •/,, 

3.  Easter,  in  commemoration  of  his  re= 
surrectioh. 

4.  Ascension  day,  commonly  called  Holy 
Thursday,  in  commemoration  of  his  ascend- 
ing into  Heaven. 

5.  Whitsuntide  or  Pentecost,  in  commem- 
oration of  the  pouring  out  of  the  spirit  on  the 
apostles. 

To  which  some  add  New-year’s  day,  as  al- 
so days  of  humiliation  and  thanksgiving,  ap- 
pointed by  the  synod,  or  the  civil  authority; 


£6i 


CONCLUSION. 

Having  given  a concise,  but  correct  state- 
ment of  the  history,  doctrine,  and  discipline 
of  the  Lutheran  Church,  I now  submit  the 
whole  to  the  judgment  of  candid  and  unbias- 
sed readers.  My  intention  was  not  to  make 
proselytes  ; for  I am  persuaded  that  the  Lord 
hath  his  people  among  all  the  different  de- 
nominations of  Christians,  and  I seriously  be- 
lieve that  all  penitent  believing  souls,  to 
whatever  religious  society  they  may  belong, 
constitute  the  “one  holy  catholic  Christian 
church.”  All  that  I had  in  view  was,  to 
make  the  citizens  of  the  United  States-  ac- 
quainted with  the  principles  of  that  church, 
which  took  the  lead  in  the  glorious  reforma- 
tion, and  which  may  be  considered  the  moth- 
er church  of  all  protestants.  But  in  conclu- 
ding, I cannot  help  expressing  my  pleasure, 
in  observing  that  the  different  denominations 
are  drawing  nearer  to  each  other,  and  that 
bigotry  is  rapidly  declining.  In  some  parts 


ef  Germany  and  in  Prussia,  the  distinction 
of  Lutheran  and  Reformed  is  already  done 
away,  and  both  churches  consider  them- 
selves as  one  body.  And  God  grant  S that 
this  spirit  of  union  and  brotherly  love  may 
continue  to  spread  ! God  grant  ! that  all 
who  profess  and  call  themselves  Christians, 
may  be  led  into  the  way  of  truth,  and  hold 
the  faith  in  unity  of  spirit,  in  the  bond  of 
peace,  and  in  righteousness  of  life  !> 


FINIS 


INDEX, 


-tm 


INTRODUCTION, 

The  sUte  of  religion  before  Christ,  The  estab- 
lishment of  the  Christian  religion  ; its  divinity  and 
■benefits  to  the  world.  Introduction  of  errors.  Beginning 
-of  popery.  The  necessity  of  a reformation.  Waldenses — 
'Wickliffites — Hussites.  Myconms’  account  of  the  state  of 
religion  immediately  before  the  reformation  Page  £ 


-Pakt  I.  THE  HISTORY  OP  THE  EVANGELICAL 
LUTHERAN  CHURCH, 

The  life  of  Martin  Luther  19 

His  remarkable  conversion  21 

Opposition  to  the  sale  of  indulgences  27 

List  of  prices,  at  which  Tetzel  sold  his  indulgences  29 

Luther  publishes  his  ninety-five  'theses  30 

summoned  to  appear  at  Augsburg — conference 

with  cardinal  Cajetan.  33 

Pope's  bull  against  Luther  and  his  followers  38 

Luther’s  appearance  and  conduct  at  the  diet  of  Worms  39 

— solitude  and  employment  in  Wartenburg  castje  43 

The  diet  of  Spires  56 

Protestants — why  so  called  51 

Conference  between  Luther  and  Zwingle,  &c.  52 

The  Augsburg  confession  delivered  to  the  diet  of  Augs- 
burg “ S3 

Calvin  begins  the  reformation  in  Basel  60 

His  doctrines — opinion  of  Luther  61 

Death  of  Luther  and  circumstances  attending  jt  62 

The  Arminians  and  their  doctrines  65 

Synod  of  Dort  * 66 

The  revivals  in  the  Church  67 

Propagation  of  the  gospel  among  the  heathens  69 

Testimonies  of  learned  and  wise  menrespecting  the  cha- 
racter of  Luther  73 


-80 

85 

86 


Paet  II.  THE  DOCTRINE  OP  THE  CHURCH. 
Preliminary  observations 
Art.  1 of  God 

2 — - original  sin 


164 


Art.  3 of  the  Son  of  Cod  "50 

4 — justification  9$ 

5 — the  ministry  97 

6 — renewed  obedience  98 

7 — the  Church  99 

8 — the  members  composing  the  church  ; and  of 

the  umvorthiness  of  ministers  not  hindering 
ther-fi'  c of  the  sacraments  100 

9 — Bapt  m 101 

10  — the  Lord’s  Supper  105 

11  — confession  and  absolution  107 

12  — repentance  110 

13  — use  of  the  Sacraments  113 

14  — Church  government  114 

15  — Church  ordinances  516 

16  — political  government  118 

17  — Christ’s  corning  to  judgment  119 

18  — free  will  322' 

19  — the  cause  of  sin  127 

20  — faith  and  good  works  127 

21  — the  adoration  of  Saints  332 

APPENDIX, 

Fhe  uoc, trine  of  the  Holy  Ghost  133 

predestination  134 

Part  ID.  THE  DISCIPLINE. 

>i  hap.  1 The  direction  of  the  church  143 

2 the  ministry  145 

3 the  liturgy  150 

4 catechising  and  instruction  of  youth  153 

5 confirmation  154 

S admission  of  members  to  the  communion  158 

7 festival  day*  139 


284.1  L812  ' 16 OF  59 


University  Librae/ 


